04x03 - Stalking Cynthia

[bunniefuu]

♪♪

[ g*nshots ]

Narrator: a brutal and senseless crime

In the heart of an otherwise peaceful neighborhood...

"Who the heck would want to do this to mom?"

Narrator: a family left in a state of disbelief

Hope investigators will provide answers.

Nobody knew who had done it or why.

Narrator: when a trail of surveillance footage

Reveals the terrifying truth...

We were dealing with a man who was very disturbed.

Narrator: ...police have to race against time...

All units, backup required.

Narrator: ...to catch a monster with a deadly grudge.

We need to find him and stop him from k*lling again.

[ Screams ]

-No! -Stop! Stop!

--Captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

Captions paid for by discovery communications

♪♪

Narrator: glendale, arizona...

...monday, december 21st, 2009.

♪♪

Cynthia langrall is especially looking forward

To christmas this year.

She's planning a trip back east

To spoil her daughter, cherie's, family.

Hello?

Alongi: hi! It's me.

Hi! You just caught me.

Oh, I just need a minute to chat

About the boys' presents.

Mom was a very caring and very generous person.

You always saw her with a smile.

The holidays were more special once she was grandmommy.

She really looked forward

To christmas presents for the children.

It's a surprise!

Okay.

I'll call you this evening.

The last thing I told her is I love her.

-Bye. -Bye. Love you!

♪♪

Narrator: divorced from her first husband when cherie was just a girl,

Cynthia has been married to charles for 21 years now.

Alongi: someone set them up on a date and said, you know,

"You guys would be perfect for each other."

And that's how it started.

They ended up moving out to arizona

Because charlie took a job

With a nuclear plant outside of phoenix.

You could come, too.

Narrator: it's only 5:40 a.m.,

But cynthia starts every day the same --

With an early morning jog.

♪♪

Mom was a creature of habit.

She'd be gone half an hour, 45 minutes or longer...

Cynthia?

...come back, get her shower, get ready, go to work.

That was her routine.

Haven't you forgotten something?

Oh!

You worry too much. Oh, yes.

Narrator: cynthia always carries pepper spray, just in case.

Charles: stay safe!

Alongi: I always worried about mom going on runs early in the morning

Because bad things linger in the dark.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[ Siren wails ]

Narrator: later that morning...

Coombs: I get a call from a command center

That there has been a crime that's occurred

That requires our response.

[ Sirens wail ]

Coombs: there was a middle-aged female jogger

That appeared to have been shot in the back of the head

Very early in the morning in a very affluent neighborhood.

♪♪

As we were beginning to set up our command structure

At the scene,

A person approached that began to ask questions.

Narrator: it's cynthia's husband, charles...

What's happened?

There's been an incident with a firearm.

That's all I can say right now.

Narrator: ...and he recognizes the victim's shoe.

That's my wife's!

Can you describe your wife?

Police tell charles a woman has been shot in the head

And is fighting for her life in the hospital.

She matches cynthia's description.

♪♪

Charles races to her bedside three miles away.

But by the time he gets there,

Cynthia has already succumbed to her injuries.

♪♪

♪♪

Cline: charles was planning on spending

The rest of his life with her in arizona,

Living out their retirement,

Getting to know their grandchildren.

And now that was all gone.

And at that point, nobody knew who had done it or why.

♪♪

Alongi: I think it was mid-morning when charlie called.

Cherie?

And he said, "I have bad news."

♪♪

You feel like it's a dream.

You feel like it's just some crazy nightmare dream,

And, you know, at some point, you're going to wake up.

But you don't.

♪♪

Narrator: with the family still reeling,

Homicide detective sergei droban immediately gets down to work.

The first 24 hours in a homicide investigation

Are obviously very critical.

We didn't rule anything out.

All cards were on the table at that point.

That way, shot that way.

Okay. Made her fall over.

Narrator: priority number one -- canvassing the neighborhood,

Especially the homes near the intersection

Where cynthia was shot.

You can go off in the other direction.

Droban: there's going to be someone who heard something,

Someone else who may have seen something.

Knocking on each and every door surrounding that neighborhood,

You don't know what you're going to find

That will lead you down the path of solving this crime.

Droban: maybe there's something they noticed early morning

In their neighborhood that was out of routine --

Say, a suspect vehicle

Or they saw a license plate

Or fragment of a license-plate number.

Narrator: early on, vital clues start to emerge...

Various neighbors actually saw what they believed

Was the suspect vehicle

Leaving at a high rate of speed.

Narrator: ...a white or light-colored sedan.

There are also witness reports of two g*nshots around 5:45 a.m.

These reports jive with the crime-scene evidence...

...two shell casings in a nearby drain

And a b*llet embedded in a neighbor's wall.

Ballistics confirms the m*rder weapon

Was a 9-millimeter GL*CK handgun.

The first shot that was fired at her,

At the back of her head, caused her death.

The second shot, as she fell, missed her,

Likely skipped that b*llet off of the roadway,

And that b*llet is what lodged

Into the lower portion of the house

That was across the street.

Narrator: detectives now know how cynthia was k*lled...

[ g*nshots ]

Narrator: ...but questions remain.

We have no clue, at this point, who may have done this to her,

Whether this person may be out there

Planning to do this to somebody else.

Narrator: detective droban looks again

At the map of properties on the road

Leading to the crime scene.

A lot of the residences around there

Had their own surveillance systems.

Narrator: this time, he instructs his team to look for any silent witnesses

Along cynthia's running route.

♪♪

Hello? Is anybody home?

They find what they're looking for



Droban: whenever we see a camera,

That certainly does make us excited

Because the likelihood is that camera has captured

Some sort of image

That we're going to be able to rely on

To piece that puzzle together.

Hello. Detective coombs.

How are you doing?

Is that camera working?

Narrator: but this footage will reveal a puzzle more challenging

And more bizarre than anyone ever expected.

[ g*nshots ]

Narrator: 57-year-old cynthia langrall has been shot dead

While jogging through a normally peaceful neighborhood

In phoenix, arizona.

Detectives working the case hope a home-surveillance camera

Will quickly expose the k*ller.

Is that camera working?

When I see a camera, I get very excited immediately.

Narrator: this system shoots in infrared

And is angled directly at the intersection

Where cynthia was k*lled.

That particular camera was crucial to us

Because it likely captured the incident as it unfolded.

Narrator: the homeowner rewinds the footage back to 5:38,

Just eight minutes before the reported g*nshots...

♪♪

But there's a big problem.

Droban: christmas lights are hanging from the eaves,

Which are really obscuring, for the most part, the intersection.

Narrator: the crime scene should be visible

In the top-right corner of the screen.

♪♪

Detective coombs scours that portion of the video

For any movement at all...

♪♪

♪♪

...but the minutes tick by,

And any detail playing out is obscured by the glare.

♪♪

At 5:58, the camera does pick up a homeowner

Racing outside to see what's happening,

And the lights of the emergency services

Responding to the scene.

♪♪

But there's nothing of cynthia or her k*ller.

We were very disappointed that that particular camera

Did not capture anything from the m*rder.

Narrator: officers canvassing the neighborhood

Have uncovered a brand-new lead --

Another surveillance system on the house next door.

This camera doesn't point directly at the crime scene,

But the footage may provide a glimpse of the perpetrator

Fleeing or approaching the scene.

He cues the footage to 5:42 a.m.,

Four minutes before g*nshots reportedly rang out.

♪♪

♪♪

At 5:43 a.m., A vehicle drives through frame

Toward the crime scene.

Take it back, please.

It's not the white sedan witnesses reported seeing.

It's a black suv.

Do you recognize this vehicle?

On a residential street at that time of the morning,

Any car stands out.

It could be a valuable eyewitness

Or cynthia's k*ller.

Can you zoom in, please?

Magnifying the video,

They try to read the license plate...

...but it's impossible to make out.

They fast-forward through the footage...

♪♪

...but once again, the only other action they catch

Is first responders' flashing lights

And then a homeowner running out to help.

♪♪

But the suv has given them the lead they were hoping for.

This suv could have very easily been involved.

We need to find out what type of suv it is

And who the owner of the suv is.

Narrator: hoping to snare their suspect,

Police set up roadblocks across glendale

And issue a description of the suv to all units.

Early the following morning,



An observant officer in an unmarked patrol car

Spots a suspicious vehicle in cynthia's neighborhood.

This is charlie delta.

I'm tailing a black suzuki suv.

Stand by for license plate.

Narrator: it looks just like the suv caught on cctv

Around the time of cynthia's death.

When our detective began to follow,

It began driving very erratically,

Which certainly raises suspicions in our mind.

Ah! Damn it!

[ Siren wails ]

All units, backup required -- west hillcrest boulevard.

Possible armed assailant.

Dispatcher: copy that.

Narrator: cynthia's k*ller could very well be behind the wheel.

They can't let him escape.

♪♪

♪♪

When we have this suv looking like it's running from police,

That gives us a feeling that maybe we're on the right track.

Maybe this stop is going to reveal the k*ller.

Narrator: police quickly run a background check.

Dispatcher: three-five-delta?

Receiving. It's come back negative.

Narrator: the driver is a local man, james rae.

Rae admits to being in cynthia's neighborhood

At the time of the m*rder,

But only because he was doing his job --

Delivering newspapers.

Sir?

Narrator: a call to his employer confirms his story.

-So, nothing suspicious? -Nope. All totally normal.

Thank you, detective.

It brings us back to, "man, who did this?"

Because a moment ago, we were down a path

That we may be able to solve this crime,

And now we're back to square one.

♪♪

Narrator: with cynthia gunned down half a mile from home

In a seemingly unprovoked attack,

Attention quickly turns to her husband, charles.

I have to be suspicious of everybody.

I can't take everybody at face value initially.

I have to dig deep into who they are, what their background is,

Then rule them out accordingly.

But at the initial point of a homicide investigation,

Everybody's suspect.

Charles, I know what a tough time this is.

I just want to assure you

We are doing everything we can, okay?

Droban: we were suspicious of the victim's husband, absolutely.

His initial demeanor was somewhat confusing.

Just a couple of things I need to ask you.

What did you hear that morning?

Nothing.

Narrator: after cynthia set out on her run,

Charles claims he took the dog for a walk...

♪♪

...before returning at 6:08 and heading back to bed.

We had various neighbors that were telling us

That they thought that they had heard the two g*nshots.

The fact that he didn't hear everything

Initially was suspect.

Narrator: charles sticks to his story.

He was out walking the dog.

You see anyone at the dog park?

No. No one.

Charles really doesn't have anybody

That can corroborate what he was doing

At the time of cynthia's m*rder,

Other than the dog that can't talk.

Look, I love my wife, okay?

Narrator: charles appears to be a grieving husband,

But with no alibi, he could know more than he's letting on.

♪♪

As the investigation enters its second day,

Detective droban looks for more cctv

Covering cynthia's running route.

He strikes gold...

...a home with multiple surveillance cameras,

One of them aimed right along the road

Leading to the crime scene.

The footage captured will soon reveal the terrifying truth

Behind cynthia's m*rder.

Narrator: it's been 48 hours since grandmother cynthia langrall

Was shot dead while jogging

Just half a mile from her suburban phoenix home.

Alongi: I kept thinking,

"Who the heck would want to do this to mom?

Who would want to hurt mom?"

I mean, even the guy that bagged her groceries

At the grocery store knew her by name and loved her.

Narrator: investigators racing to solve this senseless crime

Have just discovered a promising new lead.

Thank you.

It's all in here. See?

-There's four cameras? -There are four cameras.

Narrator: it's a high-end, motion-controlled

Surveillance system

With one of its lenses facing the street

Cynthia runs along every morning.

Detective droban opens the recording

From the morning of the sh**ting.

♪♪

♪♪

For some reason, on that one day,

The camera failed to record.

The motion-detection lights weren't activated,

But the surveillance system itself was operable.

So really all we're getting is some residual lighting,

But nothing else.

Narrator: knowing cynthia is a creature of habit,

Detective droban opens a file

From a morning the week prior to her m*rder

To confirm this is her regular running route.

♪♪

At 5:28, a passing car wakes up the camera.

♪♪

Twenty minutes later...

♪♪

...it's cynthia...

♪♪

♪♪

...and not far behind, a car.

Have you seen that car before?

♪♪

Not at all, no.

It's a light-colored sedan,

Just like the one witnesses reported

Speeding away from the crime scene a week later.

Droban has a sinister theory.

The victim herself was a creature of habit.

We knew that because she liked to go out and jog every day.

Whoever k*lled cynthia may have been a creature of habit, too.

Maybe he had been watching her

Or doing his own surveillance on her

The days leading up to her m*rder.

Narrator: the footage confirms cynthia's route

And shows she may have been followed the week before.

Detectives need to find that car.

♪♪

Back at the glendale police station,

Cherie has flown in to help the investigation

And answer questions about her stepdad, charles.

Alongi: mom and charlie weren't having the greatest relationship.

I don't think overall he was very kind to her.

I think he tried to be.

His behavior was like a switch.

I mean, one minute he would be having fun with us,

And then all the sudden, he would just get angry,

Almost like a jekyll and hyde.

I don't think he would have done it himself,

But I felt more than anything

That he knew more than what he was saying.

Narrator: detective droban brings charles in for a formal interview.

Droban: the victim's husband described the marriage

As being a solid marriage.

He didn't see the marriage

As being very problematic whatsoever.

Coombs: it's important for us to get a picture

Of what their relationship is like,

To include any indiscretions

That may have occurred in the relationship.

Greg and charles served in the navy together

On a nuclear submarine,

And when they were both discharged,

Charles helped greg get a job at the nuclear power plant

That charles was working at.

Narrator: charles reluctantly admits

Cynthia and greg were once more than just friends.

He explained to us about an indiscretion

That his wife had had with greg hawkins.

And that's a person we need to either rule in or rule out.

Narrator: the brief indiscretion a decade earlier put an end

To charles' and greg's personal and professional relationships.

Greg's behavior caused him to get fired from a job

Where they worked together,

And I think he blamed cynthia's husband for that entirely.

This is the first time

That anything has been revealed about cynthia

That could lead us down a path of solving this crime.

This is a person that could be our suspect.

Narrator: charles tell police that after the fallout,

Greg hawkins moved out of state,

But detectives soon discover

He's returned to the phoenix area.

Yes. I'd like to run that address.

They locate him in the town of peoria,

Just five miles from glendale,

And his background check reveals a troubling detail.

Missing?

We find out that his roommate, james keefer,

Is listed as missing by relatives

From the residence that he lives in with greg.

Narrator: in the midst of a m*rder investigation,

The missing person is an ominous coincidence.

♪♪

While the investigation continues,

Cynthia's family suffers through a somber christmas.

Alongi: you just cry, and it's just -- it's a horrible cry.

It's not anything they show you on tv.

It's like your soul just explodes.

Mom was a phenomenal grandma.

She was grandmommy to all the kids.

She loved life.

She loved everything about it.

She lived every day to the best that she could.

♪♪

Narrator: at christmas, there's no downtime for investigators.

Droban: I would spend my evenings pouring through everything

Over and over and over again

To see if anything's missed.

Narrator: droban reviews footage from the second camera

They discovered two doors down from the crime scene.

The resolution may be low,

But this surveillance system has audio, too.

[ Sirens wailing ]

♪♪

Narrator: the sirens signal the ambulance's arrival.

[ Wailing continues ]

Narrator: but something isn't right.

♪♪

Merry christmas, sir. Hi.

Hey, what time were those 911 calls

Made in the morning?

Let me check that for you.



Narrator: the time code reads 5:46 a.m.

That's impossible.

The first 911 call was placed at 5:48 a.m.,

And first responders weren't on-scene until 5:55 a.m.

It did not dawn on us at the time

That the time and date stamp could have been wrong.

Narrator: the camera's clock is nine minutes slow.

It's a crucial discovery.

When detective droban finds out

That this inaccuracy in the time stamp exists,

That's huge.

That's groundbreaking in our mind.

That puts us where we need to be.

Narrator: allowing for the nine-minute time-code discrepancy,

Droban runs the video back to 5:35.

This should be just before cynthia was k*lled.

♪♪

A vehicle appears in the top-right corner of the frame

And stops right by the crime scene.

♪♪

It looks like a light-colored sedan,

Just like the one seen following cynthia the week before,

And it seems to be lying in wait.

Coombs: this vehicle comes from the direction

That cynthia was jogging from

And stops at that intersection and then just remains there.

♪♪

I immediately suspect that this may be our vehicle.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: forty seconds later,

There's movement alongside the car.

-Did you see that? -What?

Run it back. That little blob there.

♪♪

Narrator: police suspect this is cynthia jogging by.

♪♪

They let it play on.

♪♪

[ g*nshots ]

Did you hear that?

♪♪

[ g*nshots ]

Narrator: it's the bloodcurdling sound of cynthia being ex*cuted.

Knowing we saw the last moments of her life is chilling.

Narrator: whoever's in that car is her k*ller.

It's their biggest breakthrough yet.

[ g*nshots ]

Droban: I knew the driver of this vehicle

Could be our prime suspect in this investigation,

And so it became paramount

That we locate that vehicle as soon as possible.

Narrator: little do they know the k*ller isn't done yet --

Not by a long shot.

♪♪

Narrator: officers in the cynthia langrall m*rder case

Have discovered surveillance footage

Recorded the g*nshots that ended her life.

[ g*nshots ]

Narrator: the video also reveals the k*ller was driving

A light-colored sedan,

Just like the one seen tailing the victim

Days before her death.

Now the race is on to identify the driver.

Acting on a hunch, detective droban

Calls peoria police for any news

On cynthia's old friend greg hawkins

And his roommate, missing person james keefer.

Yeah. I'm after an update --

Hawkins and keefer.

He needs to know what they drive.

James actually owned a chrysler sebring

That matched the description of the vehicle

That we watch in the video footage.

White chrysler sebring.

Can you hold a sec?

♪♪

Yeah. We have reason to believe

They are involved in a homicide.

Narrator: james' family has already reported him missing,

And now greg has vanished, too.

♪♪

Police execute a search warrant on their suspect's house...

Police!

Narrator: ...looking for any evidence tying greg to cynthia's m*rder.

♪♪

Sir?

Coombs: we find a handwritten note signed by greg

To his mom, telling her

That he has taken care of the people

That have done him wrong.

In this manifesto that we found,

There was better than a dozen names.

Very concerning.

He was, essentially, going to affect revenge upon many people

That he felt wronged him in his life.

Narrator: cynthia isn't on the hit list,

But her husband, charles, is.

Exactly.

Greg had been brooding on getting fired.

He blamed charles for that.

Narrator: ever since greg lost his job

Following the indiscretion with cynthia,

He's been planning revenge on charles.

Droban: we were dealing with a man who was very disturbed.

Our fear was that greg may have already k*lled somebody else.

He would have been deemed as a potential serial k*ller

At that point.

Narrator: their search also reveals a note from greg to james,

Planning a road trip to northern arizona,

And a receipt from a gas station restaurant en route.

Droban: the piece of evidence that was most worthy to us

Was a receipt that we had found for a gas station

About 50 miles north.

Narrator: while greg's motive is clear, detectives are unsure

If james is a victim or an accomplice.

♪♪

In search of answers, droban travels to the restaurant

Where greg hawkins had breakfast

The day before cynthia was m*rder*d

On december 21st.

He hopes their surveillance system hasn't yet been erased.

So december 20th, 8:18 a.m.

The footage is stored on-site,

And they cue it to the date and time

Greg was in the restaurant and look for their suspect.

♪♪

♪♪

At 8:18, a man enters the store wearing a green long-sleeve top.

He's bald, just like greg.

There is no mistaking it's him.

♪♪

But he doesn't look like a man planning multiple murders.

Droban: he's certainly not exhibiting any nervous energy whatsoever.

Coombs: you wonder about

The psychological profile of this person.

He appears very relaxed.

He doesn't appear that anything's wrong.

♪♪

Narrator: but there's reason to worry.

Droban: where was james?

Initially, our speculation was james met the same fate

That cynthia had,

So we were quite concerned at that moment.

♪♪

Narrator: greg collects his food and heads to a table

At the rear of the restaurant.

♪♪

♪♪

Then at 8:24, another familiar face appears.

It's james keefer.

The footage establishes missing person james keefer

Was in greg hawkins' company the day before cynthia's m*rder.

I was very relieved to see james in that footage

Because we knew at that moment of time

That james was still alive.

♪♪

Narrator: james collects his food and joins greg at the table.

♪♪

After an uneventful meal, the two men exit the restaurant.

Is there anything covering the parking lot?

♪♪

An outdoor camera shows greg and james cross over

To the adjacent gas station,

Where they climb inside a white vehicle.

♪♪

As the men drive off...

Stop it there.

...droban gets a better view of their car.

♪♪

That's our car.

Now we have a car that both of these guys are getting into

That very closely matches the car

That we see pull to the intersection and stop

When two shots ring out and cynthia loses her life.

Hey. It's me.

We've got our car.

This brings a whole 'nother dimension to the picture.

♪♪

Gather around, everybody. Let's go.

Narrator: back at glendale police station,

Detective droban has some new information for the team.

Investigators have located greg

At his mom's house in northern california,

Where he could be out to get the person

At the top of his hit list --

His very own father.

We need to find him and stop him from k*lling again.

Narrator: but will they get there in time?

Narrator: surveillance cameras have linked greg hawkins

To the m*rder of his former friend cynthia langrall.

[ g*nshots ]

Narrator: police have traced the suspect

To his mother's home in northern california,

Where they fear he may k*ll again.

Now, with tension close to boiling over,

There is an unexpected call from the suspect himself.

Is humboldt's swat team on standby?

Yes.

We didn't want to reveal that we knew

He may be connected to cynthia's death.

All he knew is that we were concerned

For the whereabouts of him and his roommate.

It was important for us to keep him on the phone,

Keep him occupied,

While we could get law enforcement to that house.

While droban keeps greg talking, the swat team is deployed.

[ Sirens wail ]

♪♪

♪♪

No!

-No! -Stop! Stop!

♪♪

[ g*nsh*t ]

[ Woman screams ]

♪♪

[ Woman screams ]

♪♪

Greg had k*lled himself inside his mother's residence.

♪♪

He was a coward.

He ran away.

He left all of us not knowing what happened.

Coombs: he doesn't want to face what he ultimately should face

In either life in prison,

Where his freedom is taken away for the rest of his life,

Or by the death penalty.

♪♪

Narrator: outside the house, officers find james keefer's car.

We don't know where james is at.

We know that he's still missing.

♪♪

Narrator: the car's gps data has been erased,

But police take the device as evidence,

And in the glove compartment,

There is a final clue linking greg to cynthia's m*rder.

There was a hand-drawn map of her jogging route

On his manifesto.

He had done a lot of research,

And that's what made it so frightening.

Narrator: police now know that greg spent weeks

Trailing cynthia, planning her m*rder.

But he didn't count on surveillance cameras

Catching him in the act.

It gave us the description of a vehicle.

It gave us the number of shots fired.

[ g*nshots ]

The video footage is paramount.

This was a completely troubled person who did things

And acted out in ways that nobody should ever do.

♪♪

[ g*n c*ck ]

[ g*nshots ]

Cline: greg k*lled cynthia to get back at charles.

He wanted charles to suffer,

And he knew that k*lling cynthia was just the right way to do it.

♪♪

Narrator: almost a month after greg's last stand,

Computer forensics retrieve the final location

Entered into the gps from james keefer's car.

♪♪

Three miles south of interstate 40,

Police find james' body in a riverbed.

James had suffered a g*nsh*t wound to the head,

And, ultimately, it was at greg's hands.

I think james was one of those people

That greg decided had wronged him.

He was one of those people that greg needed to get even with.

♪♪

Droban: out of all the m*rder cases I have ever investigated,

I would have to say the cynthia langrall case

Is probably the most emotional case I have ever worked,

And it still is something

That weighs heavy on my mind to this day.

Unfortunately, greg hawkins caused

A lot of pain and suffering,

Not just for cynthia's family, but also james keefer's family,

And that's something everybody's going to live with

For the rest of their life.

Alongi: greg took mom.

He took half of who I am.

He took part of who my children are.

He took a brilliant lady who was incredibly intelligent

And the epitome of being caring and kind and loving,

And he took that from us.

He took that from a lot of people --

Not just her family, but the people that knew her.

Every day, I miss mom.

There's not a day that goes by that I don't.