06x10 - It Came Back

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: a gruesome discovery...

...leaves a family devastated...

No human with a soul or any kind

Of compassion or love could do something like that.

Narrator: ...and investigators stunned.

We had a real animal on our hands.

Narrator: can surveillance footage helped track down

This brutal k*ller?

That's him.

Wichman: you just couldn't fathom how another human being

Could do this.

It's just pure evil.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: after months of house hunting,



To her new home with her two children,

Three-year-old selena

And one-year-old wayne junior.

Arwood: heather was a great mom.

I used to tell her she was a magazine mother,

Like the perfect, um, mom.

She did everything for her kids.

[ Knocking noises ]

Heather.

-Hey. -Hey, how you doing?

Good, how are you?

This house is amazing. I love it.

Arwood: when heather found the house, she was excited.

So excited. It was the first house that

She would have for the kids on her own.

You like your new house? -Yeah.

Yeah, we're excited, aren't we?

And she did it on her own,

So it made her very proud of herself.

Can I help with anything, or...?

Honestly, yeah, there's pillows in there, I think.

Uh, maybe we can get...

Narrator: life hasn't been easy for heather.

...this looking like a living room.

Narrator: she recently split up from her husband, wayne.

...so much for coming. I really appreciate it.

Arwood: heather and wayne were really happy together.

Uh, he was her high school sweetheart,

But the stress of having

The kids had just ruined the relationship.

Is that a [ indistinct ].

Arwood: it was very hard for her, but she was a tough girl.

I was wondering if you would like

To come for a sleepover saturday, yeah?

-How's that sound? -Does that sound fun?

I would keep them overnight a lot to help her out,

And that way it would give her a break and everything,

And they loved coming to my house,

And I loved having them there.

♪♪

Narrator: two days later,

Danielle goes to heather's house as planned.

Sometime between noon and one o'clock, I had gotten off work,

So I drove over to heather's to pick up selena so she could

Stay the night like I promised her.

[ Light knocking noises ]

[ Heavier knocking noises ]

Nobody answered the door when I knocked.

[ Knocking noises ] heather?

I went around to all the doors and knocked,

But they were all locked.

It was odd to me that she wasn't there.

Hey, jody?

So I called heather's mom, jody,

And told her that I just felt like something was wrong.

Narrator: jody is extremely close to her daughter.

I call her every day,

And no matter if we're mad or whatever,

She usually called me back.

And I kept callin' and callin'.

I really was getting worried, but she just didn't answer.

Narrator: danielle calls all of heather's friends,

Okay.

But nobody's been able to reach her.

Bye.

Narrator: then she spots something.

What?

Arwood: selena's binky was sitting on the back porch.

She didn't go anywhere without that.

Lynch: that was no.

Selena is not gonna leave her binky on the back porch.

Narrator: six hours go by with no news from heather.

Worry turns to panic.

Wichman: our officers did go there.

Checked the doors, the doors were locked,

The windows -- walked around the house and didn't

Have any indication that anybody was home.

They took note that there is no signs of forced entry.

Nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary.

Narrator: with no signs of trouble,

Officers have no right to break in

And return to the station.

Minutes later, another 911 call comes in.

[ Sirens wailing ]

Narrator: sergeant eric graybill heads straight there.

[ Sirens wailing ]

♪♪

Upon my arrival, an officer was in front of

The residence with two individuals

That he was speaking with.

Narrator: the two men tell police

They discovered a body inside the house.

I decided that we want

To go in and check the residence.

♪♪

♪♪

When we entered the residence,

We continued through the living room.

[ Indistinct radio chatter ]

Went to the second room,

Which turned out to be a small child's bedroom.

We looked in there, cleared that.

Nothing was located in there.

We continued down a hallway

And came to a third room.

It was immediately apparent as soon as we entered the room

That there was a body between the mattresses.

I moved around to the end of the bed

And attempted to lift the mattress up.

She was naked,

Except for a red cloth that appeared to be

Maybe a t-shirt wrapped around her neck.

Narrator: there's no sign of heather's two young children.

I decided at that time we were gonna lock down

The crime scene and start to back out of the residence.

There was hope that, you know,

We were gonna find the kids at a friend's house,

That they had spent the night somewhere else.

[ Indistinct radio chatter ]

As we were exiting the residence...

I noticed a door at the back of the living room.

It was the only place we hadn't checked.

So I unlocked the door.

[ Door creaks ]

There were some things stacked up

In the front, like, blocking the view.

And at that point, I looked over top of the boxes.

And that's when I saw the female child.

♪♪

And upon looking, um,

A little further, I could see

The top of the head of another victim underneath

Her body.

[ Indistinct radio chatter ]

Narrator: detective gary wichman is assigned to lead

The investigation.

Wichman: I didn't know what to think, um...

Mom and -- and two young kids k*lled.

We've never dealt with something like this

In this community.

[ Camera shutter snaps ]

[ Camera shutter snaps ]

[ Camera shutter snaps ]

It appeared that all three were strangled.

You just couldn't fathom how someone --

Another human being could do this.

You just couldn't make sense of it,

And, to this day, I still don't understand

Except that it's just pure evil.

Narrator: as crime scene investigators process the house,

Wichman surveys the scene

And notices something that could jumpstart

The investigation.

John street's on the northwest

Side of firelands community hospital,

And directly across the street from

Heather's residence is a parking lot.

Narrator: wichman wants to get a closer look.

Wichman: at the house, we see there are cameras there,

So we were pretty excited that possibly the residence

Was gonna be covered by the footage that has been captured.

Narrator: if the camera has a clear view of heather's house,

It could lead detectives straight to the k*ller.

We didn't know what we were dealing with.

We knew that there's someone capable

Of -- of k*lling a mom and two kids.

This community needs me to get this guy locked up.

Narrator: it's one hour after heather jackson

And her two children were found m*rder*d in their home.

Detectives hope a nearby surveillance camera

Will give them their first lead.

Hi.

I need to see the footage from last night.

Narrator: but there's a problem.

It's too dark to see heather's house.

Okay, rewind that.

Narrator: wichman scrolls back to see footage during daylight.

Wichman: with the daytime footage,

You know, compared to the nighttime,

You knew exactly which house was hers.

There's a vacant lot that was to the side of hers,

And the driveway was pretty distinct.

That -- that would show us any vehicles

Or people coming and going from her house.

As wichman: that's her house, there.

Narrator: at the crime scene, a patrol officer

Said he saw heather and the kids playing outside

At 8:30 p.m. Last night.

Cue it to 8:30.

Narrator: at 8:30 p.m.,

A patrol car appears on screen

And drives past heather's house.

We knew for a fact,

Well, heather's alive at that time.

We can start narrowing down the timeline of all the events.

All right, that's a start. Keep playing it.

Narrator: wichman scrolls through the footage.

More than two hours go by.

Nothing happens...

Until 10:57 p.m.

♪♪

There. Play that bit again.

Okay, now zoom in so I can see it more clearly.

A vehicle pulls up in front of the residence.

Narrator: it's almost impossible to see,

But something catches wichman's eye.

You can see a silhouette that actually comes from

The residence, goes up to the vehicle.

A short time later, the vehicle backs up

And pulls in the driveway,

And then the headlights go off.

We're assuming that whoever is in

The vehicle is now at her residence,

So that was definitely a vehicle of interest.

As wichman: there's no way we'll get a license plate from that.

Keep it playing. Let's see what happens.

Narrator: it starts to rain.

The footage is even more difficult to view.

Then, at 11:08 p.m.,

The car's headlights switch back on.

Wichman: it did then back out of the driveway,

And then it left southbound on prospect street.

But it was very difficult to make out

The make or any kind of information

About the vehicle at all.

That person could have been the one

Who is actually responsible for the --

For the homicide.

Narrator: now, the rain becomes so heavy,

It's impossible to see what's happening on screen.

As wichman: can I get a copy of this?

Thanks.

[ Phone ringing ]

Wichman.

Narrator: the preliminary autopsy results are in.

They confirm what detectives already suspected,

That heather and her two children were

Strangled to death.

Wichman: as a law enforcement official,

It's one of the most difficult things to do --

Tell a parent that

Their child is no longer with us.

It's really difficult to do that when --

When the kids are involved.

♪♪

Lynch: the sheriff pulled in my driveway.

[ Knocking noises ]

And he told me

That my heather was gone,

And so was the two grandbabies.

[ Sniffles ]

I was...

Numb.

I couldn't feel anything.

Your heart's broken.

You just have this deep pain inside,

Because there's three of them gone.

[ Phone ringing ]

Hello?

Arwood: heather's mom jody called me,

And at that time, she told me that...

[ Sobbing ]

♪♪

Narrator: back at the p.d.,

The investigation is in full swing.

Wichman: the main focus at that point is

To find out who was with her last.

We have a detective doing search warrants for

Heather's phone records and going through social media,

Who she was in contact with,

Who's calling, who she's callin'.

Narrator: the two men who found heather's body

Are brought in for questioning --

Daniel risner and tom hanson.

[ Speaking indistinctly ]

First, wichman wants to speak to

The man who made the 911 call, daniel risner.

Wichman: I asked him how he knows her,

And risner said, "I don't."

He just went along with mr. Hanson.

Narrator: risner's claim contradicts police reports

And raises a red flag for wichman.

Wichman: we have two very competent officers that did

A wellbeing check,

And they said the house was secure.

These two guys show up a short time later

And said the back door was open.

-Right. -Okay.

He finally admitted, "I forced the back door open."

Narrator: risner agrees to a dna swab.

Wichman then turns his attention to thomas hanson.

...said thanks.

We realized that kind of checks out

According to the video footage that

We had watched over at firelands hospital.

He actually went over there about 11 o'clock that night.

She came out to the vehicle and -- and they talked briefly.

That seems plausible.

I was only there for, like, a minute.

Narrator: hanson says that while he was at the house,

He noticed someone else there.

At that time, he realized that there's another

Gentleman at the residence that he knew of as josh.

Wichman: he claimed that he left shortly after

With josh still there at the residence.

Narrator: when he didn't hear from heather the next morning,

Hanson says he went to check on her.

Wichman: we kept thomas hanson and dan risner

On our suspect list,

Because it's not uncommon for someone

That commits a crime to go back to the crime scene

To make it appear that they're innocent.

Narrator: wichman asks hanson to provide a dna sample.

While they wait for the results,

Investigators turn their attention to the man hanson

Says was in the house after he left.

Josh is the last person that had contact

With heather and the two kids,

So it was very important for us to find him, like, now.

Narrator: it's four hours since the bodies of heather jackson

And her two children were found strangled in their home.

A man seen inside heather's house that night

Has been identified as josh case.

He is brought straight in for questioning.

Um...

Wichman: josh explained to us that they're friends.

He cares for her.

I think he wanted more out of the relationship.

Josh said that he was there that night.

Wichman: okay.

Narrator: josh says that, at one point, he left

Heather's house to go to the local store.

And he said that he had left about

One o'clock in the morning, that his cousin picked him up.

Okay.

Narrator: wichman pushes josh for more details from the night.

Wichman: josh said that he was actually pretty intoxicated.

He told me that he blacked out a few times during that night,

So he couldn't account for all of his actions.

This led to some concerns about his credibility

As to what he was telling us that occurred,

So we had to continue investigating

His activities that night.

Narrator: wichman starts by checking out if

Josh really did visit the 7-eleven.

Wichman: we know they had some cameras in there,

And officers immediately got the footage.

Narrator: investigators watch to see if anyone

Who looks like josh enters the store.

Then, at 11:20 p.m.

Is that josh arriving?

Narrator: they keep watching

But cannot make an i.d.

As wichman: do you have another angle?

Investigators switch angles and load the footage

To 11:20 p.m.

As wichman: okay, pause it there.

That's him.

That aspect of josh's story had panned out.

Narrator: but it doesn't clear him of the murders.

Wichman: we couldn't rule josh out.

He was the last person that had contact with heather.

Josh case still is

The prime suspect at this point.

Narrator: investigators need hard evidence.

Then the lab results come in.

♪♪

Tom hanson and dan risner are ruled out of the investigation.

Wichman: there was confirmation that there's dna from josh case.

And the results reveal something else.

There was also an unknown male.

Someone else was there that night.

Narrator: detectives urgently need to know who.

♪♪

Heather's mom and best friend prepare

To say their last goodbyes.

Arwood: I was just stunned.

I didn't know what could have happened

Or who could have done something like that.

Everybody loved heather.

That's what made it so hard at the beginning

Is not understanding why or who.

I mean...

The babies had their whole lives in front of them.

Lynch: the devastation of

Three people dying, two are babies.

And you never think that

It will happen to you.

You just don't,

And wow, it did, it happened to me.

Baxter: we had a real animal on our hands.

We had to take him into custody,

Because we're concerned that he's not gonna stop.

Narrator: at the police station,

Heather's phone records are in.

Baxter: we try to go back and relive

The last hours or days of a victim's life.

Their cellphone records provide a really essential

Piece of evidence to help us do that.

Narrator: heather was very active on her phone

On the night of the murders.

Wichman: then, all of sudden, at one point in the middle of

The night,

All of her phone calls from that point on went to voicemail.

She's still taking calls until three.

That was telling us right now that somewhere in that

Timeframe is when...

Everything went wrong.

The very last conversation

Was a 30-second phone call that she had

At 3:12 in the morning.

That person could be a big piece of the puzzle.

Run a trace on the number at 3:12 a.m.

I need to know who it belongs to.

Thank you.

Hi, I need to see the footage again from heather's house.

Cue it to three o'clock.

Wichman: it was 3:10-ish...

Zoom that in.

Wichman: a white vehicle does pull up to -- to heather's residence.

That has to be him.

When we see the white vehicle pull into the driveway,

It pulls in,

And it turns its lights off.



Exactly the time of that last phone call heather took.

Narrator: wichman keeps watching.

If his theory is correct,

The murders are taking place at that very moment.

[ Music climbing ]

Narrator: it's been 36 hours since the brutal m*rder

Of heather jackson and her two children.

Detectives believe a white car seen on surveillance footage

Outside heather's home is linked to the murders.

Wichman: it doesn't turn those lights back on

Until 4:16 in the morning.

So it was at heather's house for over an hour.

Just plenty of time to do the horrendous crime that was done.

Zoom in.

And play it again.

Narrator: the car disappears out of shot.

[ Sighs ] it's not enough.

Narrator: desperate for a clear view of the vehicle,

Wichman goes back to the hospital.

Wichman: there is a camera on the north side

Of the hospital.

It's not pointing at heather's house,

But it will capture any vehicle coming and going to

Heather's house that are going from the east or the west.

Hi,

I need to look at your cctv footage

For the night of september the 8th.

Narrator: wichman cues the footage to 4:16 a.m.,

When the white car left heather's house.

The car does drive right in front of that camera.

Now zoom in on the plate.

Wichman: you still can't see the license plate

Or who was actually driving the vehicle,

But, um, you got a great description of the car.

A white cadillac.

Can you send a copy of this to the station?

Narrator: investigators need to find out

Who is driving that cadillac.

Back at the station, there's news.

Thanks.

We finally got the subscriber information

From the phone company.

It was pretty much a -- a [bleep] moment,

Because now we have a name.

Curtis clinton.

Wichman: now we know curtis clinton is

The last one that had contact with heather jackson

At 3:12 in the morning.

Baxter: the pieces began to come together with

The video surveillance, with the phone records.

Narrator: but who is curtis clinton?

A background check reveals a disturbing discovery.

Baxter: we found that he also was convicted

Of the 1997 m*rder of misty keckler,

Who was found in a very similar situation

To heather jackson that was strangled to death.

A crime for which he served 13 years.

He had been released from prison

Just approximately seven months

Before these murders were committed.

Narrator: wichman checks for any vehicles registered to clinton.

Curtis clinton drives a white cadillac.

Come with me.

Wichman: so at this point in the investigation,

We have our number-one suspect,

And we need to find him, and we need to find him now.

Narrator: ready to make an arrest,

Police go to clinton's last known address,

But he is nowhere to be found,

And there is no sign of a white cadillac.

Wichman puts out a bolo.

As the manhunt gets underway,

Heather's loved ones prepare to lay

A mother and her children to rest.

Arwood: jody came to pick me up,

And I got to go with them to the funeral home to discuss

Arrangements and everything.

It was hard. We all cried.

It's not something you ever want to do or go through.

Lynch: she was a good mom.

She loved her kids.

They was...blessings.

That's what they was.

They didn't have a chance to grow up and do things.

They was just little guys.

♪♪

Narrator: at the police station,

Wichman gets the call he's been waiting for.

Wichman.

Narrator: officers have located the cadillac...

[ Camera shutter clicks ]

Abandoned 15 miles away.

[ Camera shutter snaps ]

[ Camera shutter snaps ]

[ Camera shutter snaps ]

Wichman: inside the vehicle,

There is a receipt from hy-miler gas station

From the same evening that her body was discovered.

Narrator: there's no time to lose.

Wichman goes straight to the gas station.

Hey,

I need to see your cctv footage for the night

Of september the 8th.

Narrator: wichman cues the footage

To the time on the receipt -- 8:30 p.m.

As wichman: pause it there.

And zoom in.

That's him.

Hit play.

Wichman: you can see curtis clinton.

He bought some beer and some waters.

Baxter: our suspicion was here is a cold-blooded k*ller

After committing this heinous crime,

He's thinking about his tomorrow

While he wiped out three people's tomorrows.

Narrator: but without seeing clinton behind the wheel,

It's impossible for detectives to be certain he was the one

Driving the cadillac that night.

Do you have another angle?

Narrator: they switch to a camera covering the entrance.

[ Suspenseful chord strikes ]

Baxter: the video surveillance footage

Showed a white cadillac,

But you didn't see who was driving the vehicle.

But shortly after that vehicle parked,

You can see curtis walking into the store.

Zoom in.

And play it again.

Wichman: now that we have curtis clinton tied to

That white cadillac,

That showed us that he's the primary user of

That vehicle, that he didn't lend it out to anybody else.

So that was huge.

Baxter: we had a really deranged k*ller out there.

He just k*lled three people.

And there's gonna be other victims

Out there unless we move quickly.

Narrator: police have zeroed in on the man

They believe m*rder*d heather jackson and her two children,

Convicted k*ller curtis clinton.

Detectives fear they will never find him...

Until a 911 call comes in.

Narrator: the patient is taken to the hospital.

His name? Curtis clinton.

Police go straight there.

And when doctors give clinton the all clear,

Officers make their move.

Curtis clinton, you're under arrest

For the m*rder of heather jackson.

♪♪

Wichman: we took him right into custody.

He was still in his hospital gown.

We took him from the hospital

Right to our police department's interview room.

Curtis denied anything, any involvement,

Of course, in the particular case.

Wichman: I stepped out, and at that moment also,

I was notified that they had found curtis's dna on heather.

Heather's friend, josh case, is

Completely ruled out of the investigation.

Thanks.

Narrator: then detectives discover more

Damning evidence against curtis clinton.

Baxter: shortly after curtis was incarcerated,

He made a phone call to his mother.

Those phone calls are monitored,

And they're routinely listened to by law enforcement.

Baxter: he was clearly a person who was distraught,

Troubled, sharing this with someone very close

To him, his mother.

And it was consistent with someone who would

Commit this type of heinous act.

Narrator: investigators piece together what happened on

September 8, 2012.

At 3:10 a.m.,

Clinton arrives at heather's house.

The connection between heather and curtis

Was still kind of a mystery.

How did he end up at her house?

[ Phone ringing ]

There was that phone call when he arrived.

[ Over phone ] hello?

I'm not so sure that she was expecting him.

I think that the particular night in question,

He was looking for another prey,

And it became heather.

I believe that maybe he wanted to have some

Sexual encounter with her that night,

He may have been told no.

He became more infuriated, more enraged.

And at that point in time, he turned

Into curtis clinton, the monster.

Wichman: he m*rder*d heather jackson

And her -- and her two kids.

All three were strangled.

The mom was hidden between the mattresses.

The two kids were tossed inside of a storage closet

Behind some boxes.

Narrator: at 4:16 a.m.,

Clinton leaves,

Driving past the security camera

On the nearby hospital.

Just hours later, he goes to the gas station,

Unaware he's been caught on camera.

Wichman: the surveillance footage

Was absolutely imperative.

You can hide,

But you can't run forever -- we'll get you.

Narrator: curtis clinton pleads not guilty,

But on november 4, 2013,

A jury convicts him for the murders of heather jackson

And her two children,

Selena and wayne.

He is given three death sentences.

He has no soul.

No human with a soul or any kind of compassion or love

Or care in his body could do something like that, ever.

He's a monster.

Narrator: for heather's loved ones,

The pain doesn't go away.

I lost my best friend, my sister,

And then the babies,

They were like my own.

I feel like I lost two children.

To me, there's no justice.

[ Sniffles ]

I don't feel it anyway.

My kids are gone.

All I know is

I grabbed god's hand, and he got me through it

And still is,

To this day.