01x04 - Hit and Run

[bunniefuu]

[Music] this is a little bit different for us

doing a hit-and-run fatality our deadly w*apon is a car on the night of July the

6th 1988 17 year-old Rachelle Escalante went to a party at a friend's house she got into a

fight and then minutes later she ends up dead on the side of the road autopsy

reports indicated that Rachelle was struck by a car but whether it was an accident or m*rder has never been

answered in all the cases that we've done Rachelle is our youngest yeah I mean think about it she's really like a

baby I'll never forget the day that I was told it was just like kind of in shock while the cops were out there

working the scene they saw this 1979 black Trans Am that kept circling by so

they followed it and the car went directly to the part of her Rachelle had been earlier the officers questioned all

the kids at the party that night but no

one would give them a straight answer well most of the time we don't take any hit and runs because they're usually

impossible to solve but the thing about the case when I first read is there's so much to play with there's so many witnesses our hope here is that now that

most of our Witnesses are in their late 30s and they had their own kids and they'll feel some guilt maybe they'll

tell us the truth we've invited to it the best interviewers that we know to help on this case houston police

detective Johnny bonds and LAPD homicide investigator Orlando Martinez best thing

I wanted to ask you what happened our goal this week is to find out if it was a m*rder and if it was to get enough

evidence to take it to the DA to convince him to present the case to a grand jury

it has been 16 years and still no at least consider her k*lling a cold ears later the case is still unsolved

[Music] there are so many cold cases out there just waiting to be solved the crime

scene ultimately tells the story of the m*rder we want to bring justice to these

victims hi Jim darn it nice to meet you

sergeant Jim darlin with the globe PD is the man who called us about the case chief John Bosley agent Martinez I knew

her shell we went to school together we're the same age he was on one of my little league baseball teams and pretty

sure we made our holy communion together personally knowing the victim it gave me very strong motivation to solve this

case okay so Jim now that we're all here why don't you just start from the beginning and tell us the story July of

88 okay there was a house party sometime during the evening our victim Michelle got in an altercation with a couple

people Rachelle left the party walking on foot and then that was the last they had seen her we have one witness he came

across Rachelle alongside the roadway so when the officers arrived she had we

believe just been struck because she was breathing so the officers secured the area and they observed this Trans Am

going by two or three times you know at 3:00 in the morning they become suspicious of that so they see a turn

and they do find it at this house which is the house where this party was at most people don't think of a car's being

a deadly w*apon but it is the glow Police Department has for a long long time believed that Rachelle was possibly

m*rder*d by that trans in we need to find out whether or not it was a m*rder we need to find out what really happened out there that night the owner of this

vehicle angel gray supposedly loaned this car to one of our possible suspects

but he was not at the party okay so let's put our suspects up there and put

Laurie first she lied about ever being in the TransAm yet she's the one that borrowed the car that day she's jealous

her boyfriend's two-timing her with our victim he was at a party the night before and had kissed the victim and she

knew about this Laurie right the main suspects in this because 15 not

even old enough to drive brings the Trans Am to the party so she's got the

means and she's got the motive she's jealous as can be about Rochelle kissing Tony Romero or her boyfriend so guys I'm

gonna put up now Tony Romero the man everybody's fighting over two women fighting over him and Tony was on parole

back then Tony Romero is Laurie Wright's boyfriend the biggest thing is Tony says

I had the keys to the car all night this is the the possible m*rder w*apon you say you got the keys and it's your

girlfriend fight with everybody anyways it makes you a pretty good suspect - we're gonna put Cathy Arana yeah

actually had a fight with the victim that night and we were also told that Cathy and Rachelle were like in a

relationship together yeah Cathy and Rachelle supposedly were lovers so anytime you've got a

relationship and it's heated at that moment and then all of a sudden one ends up dead

clearly that's one of the first people you're gonna look at but now one of the things that's a major thing is Cathy is

deceased yeah that's kind of big huh I think it's kind of ironic that Cathy

Arana passed away in a car wreck herself that complicates the case we can't talk to her we can't eyeball her and see what

we think about her I'm gonna just frustrate you but that's what cold cases are all about yeah I think we need to

add one more thing up there who unknown suspect unknown vehicle it is a possibility that Rachelle's death was an

accident so in order to solve this case we need to interview any possible witnesses and

suspects find out if any physical evidence can prove that the Trans Am was

our m*rder w*apon and investigate all scenarios for how Rachelle ended up dead on that Highway 25 years ago we really

feel like it's important in this case to meet the family first that way we get a better sense of Hoover she'll wash did

she have any issues with people that would make them want to k*ll a 17 year old girl I'm Yolanda McClary nice body I

am a mom and a grandma and I couldn't imagine anything happening to my child

or any of my grandchildren so when I look at Bonnie my heart just goes out to her for her daughter thank y'all very

much for letting us come talk to you you raised these kids by yourself basically who's the oldest money and how

much older are you than Rachelle just one year almost 13 so when it happened over 18 yes okay and Gabriel how were

you I was nine years old it's okay and what was Rachelle like when she was little little feisty you know she could

hold her own it was like me right now you can tell like it was but they're both the same basically they group together and

everybody thought they were twins out so she's kind of tomboyish yeah all my sports tournaments really

straight-a student she's my only student count student council also Wow good

future yeah bright she was too smart Bonnie how did you find out I was at work in an

officer came to come and tell me

it's a fatal accident I got a call about

Jewish 2:30 somewhere around that in the morning that my sister was dead from one

of the best friends and family friends that we had she is now deceased Cathy Arana and she's the one who called you

yeah but the thing was she was time my sister was dead before all before she

before even the cops called me or before anybody yes she knew I had heard Laurie

had her boyfriend driving it's just Tony Romero this is where it all it just all

turns into one big shady mess clearly bonnie has spent the last 25 years

thinking that her daughter was run over intentionally with the car and that it was a m*rder but even though Bonnie and her family

have always had suspicions about it being a m*rder and who did it there hasn't been enough evidence to prove

that when you're talking to a woman like Bonnie who's lost her baby and it's

never supposed to happen that way you get mad and it makes you that much more motivated to want to try and get

something done about it thank you so much Amy Hardy Thank You Kelly and Your Honor they're very

carrying women and to take the time to come all the way down here to do this

it's fantastic and I'm very very grateful for them

[Music] now that we know a little bit more about

Rochelle we need to go back to the last place we know she was alive this was a party house located right off the main

highway I want to figure out if one or more of our suspects would have left in the TransAm hit Rochelle on the highway

and made it back before anyone noticed they were gone from the reports we know that Rochelle left the party around 2:00

a.m. on foot at approximately 2:30 a witness saw Rochelle on that main road

by 2:45 the officers were on the scene and Rochelle is dead so we're looking at

a 15 to 20 minute window during which Rochelle was k*lled that's with us super taking our time three minutes this

is fast it wouldn't take long to come down that hill do this and go right back

up and no one would ever even know you were gone

in 1988 seventeen-year-old Rachelle Escalante was last seen alive at a house

party police have always suspected that one or more of the kids at the party that night hit Rachelle with a 1979

black Trans Am so now we want to look closer at exactly how did Rachelle die

and make sure that nothing about her injuries or the crime scene could rule

out the black Trans Am as the m*rder w*apon what do you wanna do first I want to find exactly what he was he was there

right Rey Hernandez was a brand-new officer back in 1988 and he is actually

the officer that drove up on the scene and he can tell us from his own memory exactly what happened that night

when I first got here she's laying like pretty much in this position I just got

off my shift out about two o'clock that morning and come around the corner there

by Evans Street and noticed there was something laying in the roadway then I realized it was a human being she's

still trying to grasp her breath she's still trying to breathe as soon as I got out of the car I realized that she was

still alive her eyes were open I remember that I did try to talk to her

but there was no acknowledgment that we were even there with her I stayed with

her the whole time and within probably two or three minutes she stopped

breathing just bring the carpet right here our

goal today is to use a demonstrative Trans Am a similar trend zem to ours to

see whether or not such a Trans Am could possibly have been used to inflict these kinds of injuries on Rachelle this is

not a high-speed impact the only broken bone her body is her skull what she also

has on the back of her right leg is a part of a tire impression if she gets clipped in the leg BAM where she comes

flying back this could be part of what she hit on her head too and there's the other thing there is always the theory

of going under the car look at how low this is here no I can't go under that car if a Trans Am actually hit Rachelle

I don't believe it literally ran over her but I think it's possible she hit

the side of the car and then her body gets released she does get across the roadway a little bit which is causing

some of these abrasions but she's not being drugged underneath well you know we're hoping the evidence will help us

we do have some physical evidence to test this week that we're hoping ties the Trans Am to the victim paint you

come in hard enough contact with it can flake off that can lodge into fibers and that's actually what they're going to

look for and that's at the lab that's at the lab in 1988 black paint chips or

recover from the Trans Am as well as fibers that we're going to see microscopically if we can find any of

these on the victims clothing and we also have a partial tire impression on

the victims pants try to match that up to some photos that we have of the tires on the Trans Am a lot of time has passed

maybe people are willing to talk now after coming out to the scene today and reenacting things it's possible that

this Trans Am could have caused those injuries to Rachelle's body so we're gonna continue on down this path and try

and find witnesses they can say well which one of our suspects who might possibly have a motive to get in the car

and hit Rachelle 25 years ago from the

reports and arrays was the last person to see Rachelle walking on foot away from the party so we need to call her to

see what all information she could help us with hickeys on her neck from Tony

her mouth so I get Cassie was mad because Rachelle has the hickeys on her neck and they started arguing and I'm

leaving and then when I turned back around the licorice I was gone I did Laurie and Rachelle have a problem that

night and tell me her mouth kissing Laurie was stood in the front with me and she happened to see the same thing

and she started crying and that was like two nights prior to that happening and so we all laugh and but when we left we

didn't go down the way the road that she went down we went a different way and so if it happened already then we would

have missed her from the report we know that shortly after three Tony Romero loads an array is Cathy arena Laurie

right and Luis Perez into the Trans Am to take them home as Tony leaves the house he turns down

Lamesa Terrace thereby missing the accident scene at the bottom of Evans

Avenue Tony drops an array Assaf and then continues north to take Cathy arena and

Luis Perez home passing by the accident scene and that she got off the vehicle

and said I want to know that's my best friend Cathy told you that yeah there's no way

that Cathy stuff it's not in any report that she ever stopped and looked through the body Cathy's jealous she's lying

it all seems suspicious thank you Thank You Ana

after talking to an array is she didn't really help us wipe any suspects off the board but she still keeps our focus

pretty intensely geared at Cathy now we're at the point in our investigation

where we would go talk to Cathy but she's not alive so we can't do that so the next best thing is to listen to all

of her interviews that are taped and see if there's any little thing that gives us any information or insight into what

happened that night Shannon want them to Joe Michelle I

started arguing then she ran away is talk to her to get

Michelle standards here she'll be too funny she was nowhere in sight we know

that after dropping an array is off that night the trend damn continued northbound on the highway passing the

crime scene Cathy Arana was still in the car at this time along with Tony Romero Laurie Wright and Luis Perez Nigori

which will they're arguing the lorry until just a we're flying to give myself

it's we were best friends it was it was we said it was Inori I tell him to turn

background with background who lived register I want I swear that I want I

told me to stop I was told we have you heard us two men over Tony

Laurie hits not Oh Kathy's pointing the finger pretty

hard at Tony and Laurie but she's the one who was fighting with Rachelle and the one with the most motive that night

so it seems pretty suspicious they can't these blaming it all on them so clearly now rumors thank you for that

but did you or didn't you okay we always fight you know and listening to Cathy's

tapes she didn't seem that upset about what happened that night - Rochelle and they were supposed to be really close at

this point we haven't read anything that tells us that Kathy was acting alone in Rachelle's death but there's nothing to

say that she wasn't involved with Tony and Laurie in the car that night so now

Jonny and Sergeant darlin are gonna go and try and find friends of Kathy's maybe we can find out from her friends

as she ever said anything to them over the years about what happened that night what did Kathy tell y'all she remembered

Rachelle leaving and then shortly after that they noticed that Laurie is somebody else had left Kathy was not

with those two people did she tell you anything about happened to her shell Kathy does she understood it somebody

ran out yeah but who did she say her Laurie did you question her like how do you know it was Laurie if Kathy wanted

to let me know she would have told me Kathy say she was in the car when it happened she just said that I guess

Michelle was riding a bike Rachelle was on a bicycle yes you're sure about that where did that come from that is Wow

how you doing extremely tired and confused and confused - yeah you know

I'm like let's put fifteen different stories in the Hat and just reaching pulling out Kathy is very suspicious

just but from the fact that she told so many people so many different stories you know and we're trial occurred

scenarios had this happens we don't have any evidence this Kathy had the car that she ever drove the car that she went by

herself Tony in and Lori could have specific him on let's go get her and she could have gone with him it's time to

start looking into those two

[Music] today we're gonna go into town and try

and talk to Louise Perez who was at the party that night Louise was also in the

car when it passed by the crime scene that night so we're hoping that he can tell us more about what happened there

were you there who are your friends with him so Cathy anybody didn't we were at

the party gaining those two sisters go off remember what their names were

remembered Laurie's sister's name why we know then Shana Wright is Lori's sister

but according to the reports she's never been interviewed about this case so what

are they saying mum ran Beverly that was

her name yeah so she just always partnered with you guys so yeah she was

a young girl you have to party yeah I k*lled letter any guy mess around with the daughters in her but she she she was

always with mom she's good man we know from the

reports that Beverly Wright is Laurie Wright's mom and according to Luis Perez she's not

gonna get the mother of the Year award Laurie sisters Shauna rights looks pretty questionable to Shauna was also

at the party that night so we need to look at mom and sister it's a good chance Laurie's told them something but

before we bring them in we need to talk to anyone who knew these right women

just got a street name of the Bev from Beverly is her name Beverly used to always try to do this with high school

kids she was an old dirty player Laurie got into it Beverly got into it like two

peas in a pod [Music]

[Applause] thank you very much thank you it's nice

meeting well I thank you for being honest with us these right women sure

seem to have a reputation it's time to bring in Shauna m Bev Shauna was at the

party and from what we're hearing Bev might have been there too we need to find out if Laurie told them anything

and possibly find out if they're involved in Rachelle's death at all - you don't think I had anything to do

with this you let's go back to the party it seems there was some disagreement I remember Rachelle and Tony baby were

kissing and Kathy got mad they started arguing and Michelle took off like to

run down the street I just know that whole party I never left the whole party I mean I stayed there the whole time your mom at that party that night no did

she show up at any point during evening my darn tree ought to be raw honest with

me right now you think Laurie is involved in it no

she said I don't know not know it's a little interesting that her own sister I can't say for sure that she doesn't

think she did it but if my sister or totally or whoever they have something to do that they just need to say that so

this thing can be over with I mean I could imagine how much pain those her families in you know if you ever

confronted Laurie and asked her she would lie right to my face I knew she would but I wouldn't be my mom if these

told me something what do you think our chances are as your mom or Laurie telling us to happen they're gonna stick

together like glue there's my mom here's Laurie here's they're like this and I'm over here and

that's the way it's always been talking to Shauna it's pretty obvious that she's not the same person that she was 25

years ago she's not close to Laurie anymore and it's pretty obvious she's not trying to cover for her it's also

pretty clear that we're gonna have our work cut out for us talking to Beverly but surprisingly enough she's ready to

come down and talk to us we decided since mom everybody has the same for a hot young Hispanic male weight Oprah

carry it after and see what happens can you take one for the team does that mean right Orla Bev likes young Hispanic

boys and it is very important to get her to talk to us so hopefully I can use

that to my advantage that's right if Laurie confided in somebody they

would be her mother so she can tell us something that's gonna break the case open we've interviewed several witnesses

in the 25 year old suspected hit and run m*rder of Rachelle Escalante Beverly

right the mother of Laurie Wright one of our main suspects has agreed to come in today from what everyone tells us

Beverly ride and her daughter Lori are really tight they're gonna stick together like glue Beverly may have been at the party that

night so we need to find out what Laurie might have told her over the years and make sure that she's not involved in all

this we'll just get it right now - so

how did you first hear he was a PEO Dan

chicken just my daughter Laurie to question her I believe in her the people that were in the black Trans Am

so the Trans Am is that how are you done to the party I don't know so you weren't the one who borrowed the

kharkov angel no I didn't I was home that night who borrowed his car I don't know who borrowed the car what if we

told you Laurie borrowed the car no I'm telling you Laurie borrowed the car no worried about okay well that's what

you're saying I don't know I'm not trying to defend my daughter right now but I know she didn't have any anything

to do with that what happened to that little girl I know she did it okay okay so what did Laurie tell ya

normal human nature you're gonna ask her what the hell was that about

what I don't know as a mother you're

gonna ask her what happened what did she think happened to her shell she doesn't know what happened nobody knows what

happened obviously see the body language mmm did you ever run your vehicle up close

to Patricia Campos and maybe like get close to her way to try to hit you in

the car why would I I don't know ask did you like the party back in those days

hang out with your daughter's friends you have to party the party was always with you guys this is breaking my family

this behind us like never dying remember so my family hasn't been that was your

daughter wouldn't you want us to do whatever we I need the closure with this

and I hope and I pray to God that you find closer to this right and that's what we're trying to do by talking to

you she's more worried about her family's reputation in town not about Rachelle getting k*lled and that's not

normal unless Laurie had something to do with it after speaking to Shauna and Beverly

right Laurie right remains as a main suspect in this case but before we

interview her or Tony Romero need to call the lab to find out if there was

any evidence at all that was submitted that could conclusively say that the black Trans Am that Laurie brought to

the party is our m*rder w*apon

what all this boils down to and the lab hasn't been able to tell us anything to

link us definitively to the car I mean it would be nice if we had a great big old pretty connection but we don't

rarely in cold cases do you have physical evidence that leads to who did it if you did the case would have never

gone cold this does not mean that our Trans Am is not the m*rder w*apon because we still have a lot of

circumstantial evidence linking it to possibly being the m*rder w*apon now it's time to start talking to our actual

suspects Cathy Arana is deceased so we need to talk to Tony and we need to talk to Lori we're gonna talk to Tony first

because it seems like if he was involved it was out of some kind of sense of loyalty to Lori sort of hoping that that

loyalty has long since gone away Tony is

currently serving time in the Arizona Department of Corrections for forgery so

Johnny and Sergeant Durning are gonna go out there and interview him there's something here about this whole thing it

just doesn't sound right they're tweeners there's something happen she didn't get

very far tip over in captain is it possible

amaura gently hours it off that's it we'll leave

tony is consistently saying that he was in control the car and he's the only person that drove it what he needs to

understand is that if we can get an admission from glory or we get enough approve she did it then he's at it

because they feared a co-conspirator and a crime you're guilty you say you drive home

Kathie's line unfortunately we can't doctor she's gone Tony will not change his story he's

adamant he's the only driver of that car nobody else drove that car for the time she was k*lled that leaves us with

Laurie we're getting ready to interview

our final suspect Laurie right in the hit-and-run death of Rachelle Escalante

one of the reasons why Laurie Wright is a suspect in this case is because she has lied to the cops since day one by

the time that Laurie and Tony drop off Cathy Arena and Luis Perez officers on

scene have seen the black Trans Am drive by multiple times Laurie and Tony drive the Trans Am back to the party house the

officers locate the Trans Am and talk to Laurie right outside the party she immediately lied saying she was not in

the Trans Am even though the officer saw her when officers questioned the kids from the party the next day they learned

that Laurie had called everyone and told them to lie always talk to you because

everybody talked to us just tell them that Angela's jnjah was there he was driving the car and that was used what

are we doing with the whole you step to you whatever tell them that I wasn't in the car and that 20 wasn't right angels

trying to call her story was that angel Garre owner of the Trans Am was at the

party and had driven the car that night which we know was not true it's time to

bring Laurie in and confront her with all those lies from way back then

this is Johnny Johnny bonds 105 MC but

basically what we're trying to do is find out what happened oh sh**t and then tell me what you saw won't you not

follow us that when please pull up their core Hornet and house in the house do

you remember them asking you if you were in the car do you remember we're telling

them that that it was angel Perez car and that he parked it laughs that is not

true no it's document I don't think the officers wouldn't make better oh well that's not sure I said that I borrowed

the car from angel yeah which that was the truth and do you remember telling the officers that no you had to be the

next day after your home you have telephone conversations with people that we know and you tell them when the

police come to talk to you tell a manger was dry as that sure [ __ ] with people

separately my goodness I have no idea this is a report I asked for if she had been in the black Trans Am when he

passed the x10 things she stated she was not in the middle I asked her who the blue vehicle Blanca

she stayed angel last name unknown angel had been at the party and had left his

vehicle parked in the other section that's so true why would that off but that's not sure you drive 18 years old

when the islands and you're saying that some cop here hates you so much the deepen Alliance the reason you are the

main suspect in this case is you lad burn and no we if you had not done

anything why would you know that I don't know why people are lying saying that I said not that I don't recall any of that

so independent people like pretty damned that's call let's drive to stay here

younger I could kind of understand her

lying to the cops then you know it's a scared fifteen-year-old drunk kid but now she's lying about lying there's no

reason for her to lie about it man it just heaps more suspicions on she's

denying everything the cop said and all of her friends are lying about everything they said 25 years ago everybody's conspiring against her I

mean come on we can't prove it's the TransAm and that's that's that's problematic I think by Laurie coming in

today and giving even more inconsistent statements it doesn't clear things up

against her the only reason to keep working on this case is if we believe that that Trans Am was the one that hit Rochelle that night

so sergeant Durning is gonna call a trucker who's listed in the report as being one of the only people who was on

the road that night what we want to know is whether or not that trucker specifically saw taillights going up the

road toward the party house that night

did you see any brake lights on the side streets or anything like there had been

traffic there right before you passed not notice no the one thing that I do

remember is before we came upon that scene I saw a yellow drop going down

had you ever seen that truck before or had you ever seen it after that night no

this is not good this is the main drag through globe it's for all the business

and all the trucks go it's not a local truck known to the cops known to people it would be impossible to ever know for

sure what truck was driving through town that night we're never gonna find that truck yellow semi is not just reasonable

doubt it could very well be what hit her easily with a semi being so hard high could have cracked the back of her

head there it's why we see very slight abrasion to her the truck may not even have a clue that lady hit her that's

huge yes yeah we now have a brand new vehicle at the most crucial time possible that's

reasonable doubt right there same I could be what hit her and it might not have ever known it and it's really just an accident here's the reality of

working on cold cases sometimes you learn new information that actually goes against what you thought if the Trans Am

is not the car that's involved in this then it's not Laurie and Tony or anybody else who has any kind of knowledge or

information at that party you're never gonna be able to make this any clearer unless one of them confesses that's

pretty much exactly what you saw they're never gonna confess the only way this case can ever be solved now is if an

eyewitness emerges or if somebody confesses it's been 25 years if an

eyewitness truly existed you would think they would have come forward by now and a confession in the real world in a

m*rder case is always very unlikely Kathie is deceased and Lori and Tony are sticking to their stories Jim I think

what you need to do is take all your notes and all the tapes and everything that we did this week and put them all in your box and tape it up and not look

at it anymore because there's nothing else you can do there's nobody else you're gonna find it's done for good we

don't have the answers what happened Rochelle but I hope Bonnie and her sons take some comfort in the fact that we

made every effort we could and not feel that she was forgotten because she's not

[Music] not being able to solve a case the

hardest part about it is to go back and talk to the family I'm the one that's

got to step up to the plate and tell the family it's over with and it's it's bad

it sucks it's horrible we can't tell you for sure who hit Rochelle you watch

Bonnie sit there and try to accept the news I can't we talked to everybody we

could find we know about when it happened and we thought we could be able to say that there were no cars except

for the Trans Am in this time period and today we heard that there's a semi truck that's seen right in that same time

period and with all the other things with people changing their stories with memories with Kathy being gone I don't

think that you are ever gonna have a case strong enough to present in a courtroom we talked about it in

legalistic terms and as a lawyer and as a jury and what they can BIC she didn't care about all that lawyer stuff she

just wants to know in her own heart who hurt her baby

that'd be yeah my thank you for doing what you could do it just have to let it

be like said I feel at ease though I really do for the with the information

that you gave us but she's always with us and she has been these few days but

she knows what we're all going through and she's around she is I love you

Michelle Marie is haunted love you with all my I love you I miss you greatly

what I'm grateful for is that Kelly and Yolanda they really did try she might

have been taken away from us but she was still always move on with us I love you sister never forget you

there are unsolved cases all over this country and the best that we can do is open them up and work our hardest to get

somewhere but this is the real world and there's no way around the fact that sometimes we just can't solve them I

think that Bonnie and bud and Gabriel have dealt with losing Rachelle pretty

well for a family that lost so much I hope that with a little bit of time they

could have some peace [Music]