06x16 - The Girl on the Bus

[bunniefuu]

♪♪

Narrator: in the dead of winter, a young girl disappears

Without a trace.

It's a parent's living hell.

We know our baby's out there. We don't know where she is.

No one just vanishes into thin air.

The farther we get, the greater

The possibility that something bad has happened.

Narrator: investigators discover chilling surveillance footage.

We knew this was about to be terrible.

Look at that.

Narrator: but can it reveal what happened to the missing girl?

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

It's the day 14-year-old alianna defreeze has been

Waiting for --

The school father-daughter dance.

Damon: she called me and asked me, "daddy,

Could you take me to the father and daughter dance?"

So I just crushed inside,

And it was -- it was nice.

Wytonya: she picked out a dress, and she said,

"I'm gonna be beautiful for my dad

When he pick me up, I'm gonna be a princess."

I said, "you always a princess.

"It doesn't matter if it's the father-daughter

Dance or not, you're always a princess."

Damon: I was kind of nervous, because this was something

New for me, and I thought, "my baby's growing up."

My mind flashed back to when I got the news

That she was born, and I saw her for the first time.

She was 14, but she was still a child.

Just like, "daddy, my friends at school,

"They talk about me, because I tell 'em I still

Play with dolls," I said, "well those aren't your friends."

You know, you stay a child long as you want to stay a child.

Wytonya has been alianna's stepmom since alianna

Was three years old.

I am alianna's other mother instead of stepmother.

Narrator: the three parents are close and work

Together to bring up their daughter.

We would always be a family, we would always be together.

You know, raising alianna was our number one priority

And making her -- keeping her happy.

Narrator: alianna splits her time between both her families.

Wytonya: we stay on the east side

And donnesha and her mother stay

On the other side of town.

I would pick her up after school on a friday, and she would

Stay all weekend, and we would do all kind of things together.

It's just like a big old party.

♪♪

Narrator: sunday evening,

As usual, wytonya drives alianna back to her birth mom,

Donnesha's house so she can get ready to start the school week.

I told her I love her, I told her --

And she told me she loved me, too.

She gave me a kiss, and she said,

"I'll see you next weekend."

Four days later,

[ Phone ringing ]

Wytonya gets an unexpected call from alianna's birth mom.

Hello.

Donnesha called me, and she asked me,

Did we pick alianna up from school?

And she said, "because she didn't come home from school."

And I said, "what do you mean

She didn't come home from school?"

What?

At that point, I was worried.

Damon was worried.

Narrator: donnesha hangs up and calls 911.

[ Phone ringing ]

♪♪

Armelli: a missing persons case,

Especially when the missing person is a juvenile,

Time is always of the essence.

You know, in 10 hours, nowadays,

A person could be 500 miles away.

So it's -- it's imperative that we get on this right away.

Narrator: a detective calls alianna's school.

He confers with the principal of the school to find out

What kind of a student alianna was, who she hung around with,

If she was in with a good crowd or bad crowd.

The detective learned from the principal that alianna was

Not the type of girl that would cut school or be late.

She was usually very punctual, and it was highly unusual

For her to be missing.

Like probably most kids her age, she wanted to fit in,

And she might go along with something just to be

With the crowd.

Be right over.

You're just hoping that she played hookey

Or something like that.

Narrator: but wytonya senses something is very wrong.

♪♪

Alianna loved school.

Even when she was sick, she would go to school.

Damon: she was a good child.

This was totally out of character for her, so i...

Automatically knew something was wrong.

♪♪

Armelli: an officer starts touring the neighborhood.

He's gonna check spots where kids are known to hang out.

He might go to mcdonald's, might go to all

The little nooks and crannies where kids will hang out

Or congregate, and you know, this is his neighborhood,

So he knows where those spots are.

Narrator: as daylight fades, fear rises.

As time goes on, there is a larger chance that

Something's wrong, that they were hurt

Or injured or kidnapped or worse.

So now, more police officers are getting involved.

They're calling in officers to

Assist in searching for alianna.

And they're checking abandoned houses.

They're checking storefronts, they're checking any

Place this girl could possibly be.

[ Suspenseful music ]

Narrator: meanwhile, the weather is getting worse,

The temperature is dropping, and snow starting to fall.

Unable to stand by and wait,

Alianna's parents join the search.

Wytonya: me and damon made phone calls to our family,

Our friends, anybody we could think of

To come help us search for alianna,

And then we went out,

And we just started putting up flyers everywhere.

[ Suspenseful music ]

Damon: the plan was to scour the whole area.

We did everything that we possibly could do.

You know, our baby's out there.

We don't know where she is.

Narrator: it's now 7 p.m.

More than 12 hours have passed since alianna was last seen.

Armelli: the later it gets at night,

The harder the search becomes.

It's cold outside -- if she's out there,

She's hunkered down somewhere to stay warm

At a friend's house or, you know,

Who knows where she's at.

It was hard going home at night, knowing your child is

Outside in january, zero-degree weather.

Narrator: back at the p.d., Investigators try to trace

Alianna's cellphone,

But it's been switched off since yesterday.

They examine her phone records and social media,

But there was no suspicious activity.

I reviewed every little contact she makes.

There was absolutely nothing that would interest

The detectives.

There was nothing there that would help 'em out.

Narrator: they call hospitals, but no one matching

Alianna's description has been admitted.

When you're looking for a missing person, and you don't

Have any success right off the bat,

You go back to square one.

We know that the last place that

Anybody saw alianna was on an rta bus.

Most of the modern buses have interior cameras,

Exterior cameras.

We know alianna took two buses to school,

So we're looking for video from both of those buses.

♪♪

Narrator: the next morning,

There's still no sign of alianna.

But police get their first lead...

Look here.

...footage from the first bus is ready to view.

Armelli: the video from the buses is gonna

Be crucial, because it's where we know alianna was.

So we know she's gonna be

On one of those bus videotapes somewhere.

Narrator: if detectives can spot alianna on the footage,

They might be able to find out where she is

Before it's too late.

[ Music climbing ]

Freeze it there.

Narrator: it's more than 24 hours

Since 14-year- old alianna defreeze

Was last seen at the bus stop on her way to school.

No one has any idea where she is.

[ Suspenseful music ]

Investigators watch surveillance footage

From the bus,

Hoping it can lead them to the missing girl.

The buses have video inside,

So you can see what the passenger's doing when

They're riding the bus.

It also has a video that allows us to see

Who gets on and off the bus.

So it's very important and very good video to have.

Narrator: they cue the footage to 6:30 a.m.,

Around the time alianna's mom said she got the bus.

Armelli: the description that alianna's mother

Gave the detective was that she left

The house wearing a blue head scarf,

A black coat, and a school uniform.

So we know what we're looking for.

Narrator: inside the bus, the lights are off,

And the camera records in black and white.

At 6:41 a.m.,

The bus slows down and stops.

A girl boards the bus,

But detectives can't make an i.d.

We switched to a different camera on the inside of

The bus.

The interior lights come on for a moment.

She's got a blue head scarf on, but they can't see her face.

Narrator: detectives watch closely.

♪♪

[ Music building ]

[ Music building ]

Look at that.

♪♪

Armelli: she looks towards the camera for

A brief moment, and she gets positively identified

As alianna.

Narrator: detectives keep watching.

Armelli: the initial video of her standing there on the bus,

Alianna doesn't appear to be in danger,

So it seems like everything up to this point is normal.

Narrator: then, at 6:46 a.m.

Armelli: the video clearly shows now the bus is driving

Down the road, it pulls up to another stop,

The interior lights come on, a young man gets on the bus.

He has a word with alianna.

They kind of smile at each other.

They're standing next to each other,

And they end up sitting down together.

They're smiling. They're laughing.

They seem like friends.

Alianna doesn't appear to be in any danger.

Maybe she had a boyfriend that the mother was unaware of.

Maybe they got off the bus together

And played hookey or something like that.

Narrator: minutes tick by.

Armelli: now it's about 6:50 in the morning,

And the bus is rolling down the road.

Alianna gets up,

She walks towards the front of the bus.

Narrator: detectives switch tapes

To the camera covering the door.

She gets off at the next stop.

The boy stays on.

So it's clear now when she gets off the bus,

She's by herself, and they both go their separate ways.

Narrator: the bus drives away,

And alianna disappears from view.

Detectives know nothing happened to alianna

While she was on the bus.

She's now just half a mile away from her school.

Armelli: the farther we get from the time that alianna was

Reported missing and that we know she was last seen,

The greater the possibility that something bad has happened.

It's not a criminal matter as of yet.

This is just a missing person,

But everybody's trying to get one step ahead of the game.

Narrator: detectives load up footage

From the bus's exterior camera,

Hoping that it can reveal what happened next.

[ Suspenseful music ]

♪♪

Armelli: so we can see alianna walking in the same direction

The bus was traveling, and as the bus starts

To take off again,

You can see alianna making her way down

The sidewalk and crossing the street as the bus

Pulls out of view.

Narrator: as the bus drives past,

Detectives catch a final glimpse of alianna standing on

The street corner.

It's 93rd and kinsman, where alianna would

Normally take her second bus to school.

Armelli: at this point, there was quite a bit of alarm

That went up with everybody.

Kinsman is kind of a tough neighborhood

For a young girl to travel through.

There's a high instance of

Homicides in that particular neighborhood.

Narrator: detectives play back the footage.

Armelli: they want to look at this a second time,

A third time, a fourth time.

They're trying to track the movements

Of everybody who's on the sidewalk

When alianna gets off the bus to see if anybody followed her,

Anybody had any contact with her, anybody said anything.

Anybody who looked at her sideways,

They want to look into.

They do identify a man in a white coat

Who kind of looks like he may be following her

As she crosses the street.

The detectives now focus on this guy in the white jacket.

Narrator: investigators recognize the man.

He was on the same bus as alianna.

[ Music climbing ]

Armelli: they go backwards, and they see

What he was doing on the bus, if he was

Looking at alianna, if he was sitting close to her,

If he was keeping an eye on what she was doing, just to see if

There's anything they can pick up on that might lead them to

Believe that this guy might be involved in her disappearance.

[ Music climbing ]

He was actually sitting right behind her.

That may be a person of interest in this case.

Narrator: now investigators need to know if

Alianna made it to her second bus

And if the man in the white coat followed.

♪♪

Outside on the cold streets of cleveland, the search continues.

We had a bunch of volunteers and police officers

And a lot of people -- we grouped up,

And they were out there

Shoulder to shoulder, foot to foot with us

In these blizzards.

We weren't taking no for an answer.

We were running through brick walls trying to find ali.

We were doing whatever we had to do.

Feels like you -- you let your child down,

You know, they look for you to protect them,

To nurture them, to guide them, to lead them.

It was cold, it was snowing, and we needed to find her.

Narrator: police appeal to the public for help,

And local press pick up the story

Of alianna's disappearance.

Police are saying that alianna defreeze was last seen getting

Off of a bus near 93rd and kinsman thursday morning,

But since then, no signs of her.

Nyorkor: people were scared -- in that neighborhood, you know,

They knew of other crimes,

They knew of other women who were m*rder*d.

And so there was a fear that, man, did --

Did something happen to alianna

That happened to those other women?

No one just vanishes into thin air.

♪♪

Narrator: back at the p.d.,

Footage from the second bus has arrived.

Investigators cue it up,

Desperate to know what happened to alianna.

Now we have the video from the second bus to review,

And we're watching that video, and we see

And know that alianna did get on the second bus that

She normally gets on every morning.

♪♪

[ Chord strikes ]

♪♪

The detectives are trying to hone in on

This guy in the white jacket from the first bus.

♪♪

The guy in the white coat, he's not around anymore.

He wasn't on that bus,

So he probably has absolutely nothing to do with this.

Narrator: they rule him out as a suspect and keep watching,

Anxious to see what happens next.

[ Music climbing ]

Normally, the bus would drop her off

Almost right in front of the school.

However, on this morning, alianna gets off a stop or two

Before the school, at the corner of 93rd and bessemer.

Nyorkor: she got on that bus, but she didn't get off

At her usual stop -- she got off too early.

Narrator: detectives need to know why.

Maybe alianna went to meet somebody.

Narrator: they speak to alianna's friends and family,

But no one has any idea why she would

Get off the bus early.

Detectives also identify the boy

Alianna was speaking with on her first bus,

But he tells them she planned to go to school as normal.

With no new leads, detectives refocus their search.

Now that detectives know that alianna got off the bus

At 93rd and bessemer,

We're gonna kind of focus on that area there.

Narrator: officers swarm the area,

Desperate for clues.

They search street by street,

But no one has seen the missing girl.

Two blocks from where alianna going off

The bus is a row of derelict buildings.

Two uniformed police officers enter

An abandoned house on fuller avenue.

Looking through these abandoned houses,

You're always on alert, because you never know

What you're gonna find.

It's kind of dangerous.

[ Suspenseful music ]

It was boarded up, it was dark.

There was no electricity.

It was pitch black.

They knew something bad had happened.

You know, you just have this -- this sinking feeling

In your stomach.

[ Music climbing ]

Narrator: it's three days since 14-year-old

Alianna defreeze vanished without a trace

On her way to school.

Investigators have spotted the teen on

Surveillance footage,

Getting off the bus two stops too soon.

Cleveland police officers are searching the area.

They reach a row of abandoned houses just

Two blocks from where detectives saw alianna on camera.

♪♪

Armelli: two uniformed police officers

Enter an abandoned house on fuller avenue.

And as they're searching through the house,

They saw what appears to be a trail

Of blood on floor of one of the rooms.

They follow that trail into another room.

They see some clothing and some personal articles

In the room.

They also found some tools that were in

The room there that had blood on the tools.

As these police officers look

A little bit further in the room there,

They discover the body of a young girl.

There's a lot of blood.

There was several injuries to her body.

The injuries on her body, the amount of blood in the room,

The implements that were found in the room along with the body,

It was very gruesome and very disturbing,

Even for experienced police officers.

At this point, the body that they found was unidentifiable.

The i.d. Was tentative,

But based on the articles of clothing and personal items

That they found in the room,

They believed that to be alianna.

Narrator: until medical examiners confirm

The identity of the body,

Police are unable to inform alianna's family.

But news of the discovery starts to spread,

And volunteers assisting in the search alert the family.

I started crying, and I told damon

That I needed to see for myself

If it was her.

I said, "I need to know if that's my baby back there"

And damon tried to get back there,

But they wouldn't let him back there.

There was a whole lot of police presence.

[ Crying incoherently ]

I just started hollering and screaming,

Because I just knew it was her.

[ Crying ]

I said, "just let me see something, I mean anything.

"If you let me see if it's her book bag,

"Her coat that I had just bought her,

"Her hat, her gloves.

"Whatever, anything -- y'all don't need nobody to come

"To the coroner's office to identify her,

Because we can do it right now if it's her."

[ Crying ]

Damon and not knew in our heart it with her.

We knew it.

Narrator: an autopsy confirms the body

Is 14-year-old alianna.

Somebody k*lled my daughter.

I'm just telling myself somebody

Actually k*lled my freakin' daughter.

♪♪

I was enraged.

I was enraged.

Our precious, beautiful alianna was no more.

Narrator: at the crime scene,

Forensic investigators get to work.

Armelli: now that the body has been found,

It's -- the officers' focus and responsibility has to shift

From searching for this young girl to finding who did this.

The forensic team take photographs,

Collect dna evidence, blood, search for fingerprints,

They'll collect all the physical evidence that's around

And document and package everything so it can be

Sent to the crime lab and analyzed further.

Those things may lead us to a suspect,

But we're not gonna wait for those results to come back.

There's gonna be police officers on the streets

Immediately after her body is recovered,

And they're gonna be looking for whoever did this,

See if they can locate this guy as fast as possible.

Narrator: desperate to get this k*ller off the streets,

Investigators scour the area for clues.

Armelli: there's signs all over the place

That say "video surveillance" in this neighborhood here.

Those cameras could lead detectives

Straight to the m*rder*r.

Armelli: they locate a church right on the corner of fuller

And 93rd that has some video cameras on the outside

Of the building.

Narrator: the cameras point at fuller avenue,

Where alianna's body was discovered.

Hopefully, at least one of those cameras

Captured somebody doing something.

Narrator: detectives get copies of the footage

And bring it straight back to the p.d. To view.

They cue the video to 6:53 a.m.,

The time alianna got off her second bus at the wrong stop.

They need to know if alianna planned to meet someone.

Armelli: as the detectives are reviewing the video

From the church, it's kind of grainy.

Narrator: minutes go by.

There is no one around.

Then, at 7:13 a.m. --

They do pick up an image of a person

Walking down the street that they believe might be alianna.

Nyorkor: on one camera on one side of the street,

You see a short figure.

Narrator: detectives compare the image to footage

Of alianna on the bus.

It looks like a match.

Her backpack has a distinctive,

Reflective strip.

Nyorkor: it's not very clear, but you can see it's

A young woman with her backpack,

And she's walking across the street.

Narrator: it starts snowing, making it even harder to see.

[ Music climbing ]

[ Music climbing ]

Armelli: as she approaches the corner,

They pick up an image of a male.

Alianna kind of took a step back.

[ Suspenseful music ]

I don't know if he might have said something

To her or she just sensed something was not right.

Narrator: it is clear this isn't a planned meeting.

[ Suspenseful music ]

Nyorkor: it is so chilling watching

That surveillance video, because you knew, you're like,

Oh, man,

You know, this -- this -- this is about to be terrible.

Narrator: what happens next

Will haunt investigators forever.

Look at that.

Jeez.

Narrator: detectives investigating

The horrific m*rder of schoolgirl

Alianna defreeze have found

Surveillance footage of what they believe to be

Her final moments.

Freeze it there.

Armelli: a male approaches,

And she sensed something was not right.

She stepped back.

We kind of see her step back,

Like pause and look up.

Narrator: detectives zoom in on the man,

But the snow is getting heavier,

And it's impossible to get a clear view.

Police thought it was kind of suspicious that he and alianna

Had some kind of interaction,

Had some kind of conversation.

Narrator: alianna walks on and disappears out of frame.

[ Suspenseful music ]

Just seconds later, the man follows.

[ Suspenseful music ]

We need every angle on them.

Narrator: detectives load up the tape from the second camera.

The camera is focused on the parking lot,

But at the top of frame,

Detectives can make out alianna's legs.

[ Suspenseful music ]

Nyorkor: you see alianna walk that way.

[ Suspenseful music ]

You see them meet at that corner.

[ Suspenseful music ]

♪♪

Then, you know, they walk out of frame, and they're gone.

Narrator: detectives keep watching.

At 7:19 a.m.,

[ Music climbing ]

Jeez.

Armelli: again, it's very grainy and very hard to make out

Who's who,

But you can see the image of two people walking

Down fuller avenue towards the abandoned house

Where alianna found.

Of these two people,

One of them is smaller, and it appears that

The larger one is kind of shuttling the smaller one

Down the street.

Nyorkor: and then they walk off frame,

And that was it.

We didn't see anything else after that.

They walked off frame.

Narrator: this is the last image of alianna alive.

Detectives are convinced they have just watched

Her abduction and that this man is her k*ller.

They need to find him now.

Armelli: after the detectives review these two pieces of video

From the church,

They decide to go backwards and start looking backwards

Earlier in the day from those same cameras.

Narrator: early that morning,

It's not snowing, and the image is clear.

Just after 5 a.m.,

They spot something.

[ Music climbing ]

Nyorkor: you see a man, bald head.

You see him just slowly walking up and down the street.

He goes out of frame.

Then, a little bit later, you see him come back.

What is he doing?

Why would you be out that time of night

Unless you were up to no good?

Narrator: then, minutes before alianna walks down the street,

The man returns.

Armelli: it was highly unusual -- he's going nowhere.

He's just walking back and forth, up and down.

Is he, like, strolling the neighborhood,

Looking for a victim?

Narrator: police are sure they're watching

Alianna's k*ller hunting for a victim,

But they have no idea who he is or where he is now.

Meanwhile, police receive reports from other women

Who were approached by a male in the same area,

Matching their suspect's description.

People who commit these kind of crimes,

They're usually not one-time offenders.

Narrator: police believe they could have dealt

With this offender before.

Armelli: at this point, the detectives start searching

Through their files,

Looking at repeat offenders, identifying anybody who may

Kind of matches the description of

The guy that they saw in the earlier video.

It's a time-consuming search, but until

The dna results are in, it's investigators' best hope.

Alianna's manner of death was grotesque and violent.

Guys like that, they just belong in prison,

And that's the only place for them to keep

Everybody else safe.

♪♪

Narrator: as detectives hunt for their suspect,

The local community gathers in honor of alianna.

Wytonya: there was people everywhere, people was crying.

Damon took me over there, but it was really hard.

I just felt like I couldn't breathe.

My legs was weak.

It was -- it was hard to be over there at that house to know

That my baby was found in that house,

You know, and she wasn't alive.

Now it's accepting the fact that my daughter is not here.

It's accepting the fact that

Her room would be empty.

Her bedroom would be empty.

We won't hear her laughing, all that good stuff.

Narrator: back at the p.d., Detectives' work has paid off.

They have identified a suspect matching

The description of the man seen on surveillance footage.

Armelli: the detectives identify a male named

Christopher whitaker as a potential suspect,

The detectives look into christopher whitaker's record,

And they learn that he's also a registered sex offender.

In 2005, he was convicted and sent to prison for four

Years for assaulting a woman and stabbing her in the neck.

[ Music climbing ]

[ Music climbing ]

And christopher whitaker is a very dangerous man.

They come up with a picture from a previous arrest,

And when they compare that picture to the male that

They see in the church video, it's the same person.

[ Music climbing ]

Narrator: just then, the dna results come in.

It's a match.

Now, with the video and the dna,

Everything kind of comes together.

The detectives realize

That it's christopher whitaker who they saw

Pacing outside the church.

Christopher whitaker who approached alianna

On the street corner, and christopher whitaker

Who ushers her down the street to the house

Where her body was found.

Now that the detectives have identified christopher whitaker

As a suspect, they hand the case over to

The u.s. Marshals task force, the northern

Ohio violent fugitive task force.

Their job is to go out and hunt down the worst of

The worst, the most violent criminals in northern ohio.

We go after homicide suspects all the time,

But somebody that did this much evil, um,

You're a little bit, you know -- you're on high alert,

A little anxious.

Narrator: ready for a confrontation,

The team gears up to take down a k*ller.

I wanted to personally see him

Go to jail for the horrendous acts

That he committed on that girl.

Narrator: investigators need to find

Christopher whitaker before he kills again.

[ Music climbing ]

Narrator: detectives investigating

The m*rder of 14-year-old alianna defreeze

Have identified their prime suspect,



U.s. Marshals go straight to his last known address.

Nolan: when we approach a door,

We automatically assume the worst.

But we knew the potential of evil that stood

Behind that door --

It amps it up tenfold, a hundredfold.

My partner and I both looked at each other like,

"Oh my god, like,

He's gonna get spooked. He's gonna be on the run."

It seemed like an eternity.

[ Suspenseful music ]

♪♪

Once that door opened up, and I just see

This mountain of a man.

There he was, christopher whitaker.

♪♪

When I grabbed him, it was like actually touching

Pure evil, and just knowing what he did,

And when we grabbed him,

I mean, his wrists were, like, just massive.

And we cuffed him.

We could only get, like, two or three clicks on the cuff.

That's how massive he was.

It sickens me to think of how big of a man this guy was

And how little she was and what he did to her.

Armelli: christopher whitaker is arrested,

And he's brought down to the homicide unit

For questioning.

Nolan: he knew that he had been defeated,

That it was over.

He initially denied any involvement.

Narrator: detectives confront him with dna evidence

And surveillance footage.

Armelli: he slowly but surely admitted to being there.

He admitted handling some of the tools.

He is charged with aggravated m*rder.

♪♪

Whitaker pleads not guilty to the m*rder of

Alianna defreeze.

Prosecutors showed the jury what happened

On january 26, 2017.

♪♪

At 6:41 a.m.,

Alianna gets on the bus,

♪♪

She catches another bus going towards her school.

But at 6:53 a.m.,

She gets off two stops too soon.

Nyorkor: police were trying to retrace alianna's steps

To figure out why she got off

Her bus stop too early, but there was no reason

For her to stop.

I think she was confused. It's dark.

Narrator: it's a case of wrong place, wrong time,

As a confused alianna walks along the street

Where a k*ller is lying in wait.

Armelli: abandoned houses are terrible for a neighborhood.

It's a great place to take somebody

If -- if you're gonna try and kidnap them.

Narrator: christopher whitaker approaches her...

...then leads her away.

Armelli: christopher whitaker is a pretty big guy --

Very bulky, very heavy, very burly.

And for him to approach a young 14-year-old girl

Like that would be very, very intimidating.

Nyorkor: christopher whitaker

Took alianna to that abandoned home and m*rder*d her.

And her parents had to use her dental records to identify her.

I mean, it's just cruel.

It was cruel and evil.

There was no other word for it.

Narrator: on february 13, 2018,

The jury convicts christopher whitaker for

The kidnapping and m*rder of alianna defreeze.

He is sentenced to death.

In my opinion, nobody deserved the death sentence

More than christopher whitaker.

Narrator: whitaker is appealing his death sentence.

Damon: she's gonna be 14 in my mind forever.

I don't know what a 21-year-old ali looks like.

I don't know what a married alianna looks like,

But, uh...

She wouldn't want us to be sad.

She wouldn't want us to be sad.

♪♪

Narrator: alianna's family has set up

A foundation in her memory.

Wytonya: the mission of the foundation is

To get transportation vehicles so that

The children that take rta to school right now,

Today, we will be able to transport those children

Onto the alianna defreeze safe transportation.

Damon: with this foundation, we're making change

To demolish abandoned structures,

To address domestic violence,

Homelessness, and police community relations,

To make sure our children are safe.

Wytonya: don't ever think that it can't happen to you,

Because it can.

You never know who's watching.

Somebody can just take them just that fast,

And you don't even know it.

You'll turn around, and they'll be gone.