02x03 - High School Sweethearts

[bunniefuu]

aren't you happy to be back in Texas I am though so this is the first case we've worked on where we have two

victims husband and wife on the morning of September the 27th 1997 16 year-old

Tiffany called the police saying that she found her father Charlie and her stepmother Kathy bloodied and beaten to

death crazy to think that two people in

their house would end up being k*lled two women were with a hammer of all things seem so person they were beaten

so badly that they first thought they were shocked rumors quickly spread as to who could have wanted such a happy

couple of days last thing I need figs

coming around my house and it's freaking me out I still believe that it was definitely epicenter of the rumors was Charlie's

own daughter Tiffany who claimed to have slept through the whole thing and was the only person to k*ll her left a lot

was she so mad at her dad and her stepmom that she would k*ll them like that unfortunately with the lack of

evidence and police resources the case went cold I'm excited looking at this hammer because it's never really been looked at

by the lab Kelly and I have read over the entire case but there's still a lot to learn we've called in the big g*ns on this one

Houston homicide detectives Alan brown and Johnny bonds with their help our goal is to convince the district

attorney to file capital m*rder charges on the person or persons who k*lled Charlie and Cathy

[Music] it has been 16 years it's still no consider her k*lling a cold years later

the case is still unsolved 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 bring you to meet some or not

people probably has a case that he will

remember throughout his career and this one's mine the m*rder happened 16 years

ago tomorrow and you were there that day yes it was one of my first homicides as a detective where all the responsibility

was thrown upon me to solve this case well we all read it we're all excited

food the port is not the type of town that has a lot of violent crime it's

very rare and so when you have a double homicide it gets everybody all scared

well show us the room let's go start ready all right this one why don't we

start with y'all talking about the victims Charles and Kathy hey they were

in their mid-30s at the time they were k*lled and they grew up and look forward huh yes high school sweethearts right

and went back up later on Charlie was a musician that had his own band and played in local bars and things of that

nature [Music] he had worked at a small engine repair

shop and they had one daughter together Samantha then Charlie had another

daughter it was living at the house Maine Tiffany who was 16 I got the phone

call shortly after 5:00 in the morning when I arrived Charlie who was not yet

deceased have been located in a recliner that was fully reclined and that severe

head trauma EMS had already removed him from the living room and he was

transported downtown time in hospital but I did I approached Kathy she had

extreme injuries to her head her shirt it was kind of crumpled up she was also dressed in some sweatpants and those had

been pulled down to her ankles with Kathy's pants pulled down and the bruises on her knees it was thought that

this might be a possible r*pe but that was later tossed out when testing showed no signs of sexual as*ault we know that

both of them were k*lled by a hammer the day after the m*rder the detectives

located the m*rder w*apon in a coal bird right by the house later the hammer was identified as belonging to the victims

where was Tiffany according to Tiffany she was in her bedroom Tiffany was the

only person left in the house that night because Samantha had slept over at her grandmother's house but strangely

Tiffany was left unharmed and then she wakes up around 5:00 a.m. what she

thought was her father's snoring and actually when she goes in there immediately sees something's wrong and

calls ma'am

[Music]

okay so then y'all talked about a couple of suspect with me I think anyone that first looks at this case says well how

did you sleep through that you know we considered the fact if Tiffany was involved maybe is Brian her boyfriend

because if she didn't have the guts to do it but wanted it done it could have been her boyfriend the next phone call

she makes after 9-1-1 she is calling Brian some say Kathy and Charlie wanted

those two to break up they didn't want her to travel down this road which could be his motive if their disapproving and

then absent anyone in her gone now they're married to each other and have

four children Wow okay so if it's not Tiffany or Brian then who else are we looking at according to Tiffany when she

went to sleep around midnight Charlie was already undressed and in his

bed and later of course when he's discovered he's dressed in black colored Levi's jeans it's very possible Charlie

could have got up and allowed to k*ll her inside I mean he obviously got it and got dressed for a reason maybe

someone came over and visited and maybe they mean we know that there was rolled marijuana joints in the ashtray

we felt Tiffany pitchers and pointed out that their pillows on the couch and she's saying that was not there when I

went to bed really all right so who would Charlie had let inside Gregg elder

he's a relative of Charlie specking cousin what's his reputation around town

alcohol and drug issues he's got a short fuse huh yes anger issues what about his crush on

Cathy lost yeah at the time of the m*rder his mother lived within a half mile that's walking distance the last

one we got up here is Paul Salazar and we get his name because of Wanda Spiller who did live right there in the

neighborhood who says right around 4:00 4:30 in the morning she sees Paul who she knows running around and it kind of

freaked her out in the report this is that Charlie had the disagreement with someone at the

lawnmower shop and Paul Salazar worked at lawnmower shop and it was a Hispanic male that he had the disagreement with

and so the question is is drinking and maybe using don't gonna be enough to make him snap and k*ll he said Tiffany's

got four kids yeah Brian Wow we need to be cautious talking to

Tiffany because we don't know she's involved in her parents murders or if she's just an innocent victim luckily

she and her half-sister Samantha are really eager to meet with us well we're gonna have Johnny bonds listen in in the

car can you tell us anything about your dad about your mom then you probably have always always happiness just the

music remember the music room and being a kid and you know running out there and

it was amazing you know since it happened it's just been rough I want I

wish year after year that they were here with me if we were able to have answers

to this I don't even think any words can describe the feelings that what you would all feel samantha has never been

told the details of the crime scene because Tiffany has always wanted to protect her sister from all that but we need ask for some other questions too so

you don't need to hear all that right now but in order to solve this case we have to find out as many details as we

can as much as you can remember kind of start with that night I've always been a deep sleeper and I just remember waking

up and I heard just this weird breathing so I get up and I'm rubbing my eyes when I was on my go oh my gosh I walk around

yes I'm rubbing my eyes I went and hurt pulla boys almost fell

down if she's right then just lay in there until like hold I won't whine

after i dial nine-one-one I turn around I just see everything I just see it and

I know this is bad and I remember at some point I knelt down to tell the

operator and I felt hurt I think it was her back and she's not breathing one second she has a pause and then I

turned to my dad I put my hand on his chest and I said he's still breathing he's still breathing and shortly after

that the officer knocked on the door

okay um new subject Craig Hauser is your dad's second cousin

yeah he said and the first time he sees you and talks to you after everything happened what was that like it was

volunteered for this certain boots and I'm walking towards the booth and Craig is coming at me and he said are you

gonna give me a hug or do I have to b*at you to death what'd you say to him I

just thought that I didn't know what to say and he'd say anything anything and not in all the years has he said anything else we haven't talked to him what are

you letting your thoughts about you you know I don't want to foster case because I know what that feels like music your life it's terrible I lost

part of my family I didn't know Samantha for years so I don't ever want to put

that on somebody else but I think I think you did it because it hurts too much it's just awful

at this point it's difficult to say either Tiffany had nothing to do with the murders or she's been lying so long

she believes it herself

assistant chief Parker is here today because he was one of the first responders to the scene he's gonna help

us understand what they saw that day we actually pulled up and then pretty quick Tiffany open the door and she appeared

to be pretty pristine and I could see her father right here at the corner this

house is pretty small with two bedrooms in the back and a living room in a kitchen in the front area Charley was

found in a living room while Kathy was found lying face down near the dining area so we had to get help from Charlie

because he was still breathing I was just alive she was obviously devastating she's like like her head up into the

wood area blood right here so you're thinking this happened when I think timewise with his injuries the fact that

he lived at all four minutes it happened more towards the morning oh yeah look at

the blue it was 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning he would expire none of us

believed that Tiffany if she was involved would have been the actual one to swing the hammer so that leaves Tiffany's boyfriend Brian

Charlie's cousin Craig Houser or Charlie's co-worker Paul Salazar we

don't know how the k*ller got in or when he came in but we know before he k*lled anybody he had to get the hammer and we

know the hammer was on top of the refrigerator refrigerators right here he gets the

hammer Charlie was benevolent planning his head

was right about here yes so our k*ller comes beside him and he's hitting Charlie at least 14 times and I

mean these are business craft he gets through he's gonna have blood all he

walks back in here it sets the hammer damn on look man we know that he set the hammer down because

it's traced out with the blood and everything but he does that after she's dead know it yeah this is his blood only

when the investigators tested the blood that was a transfer from the hammer on

to the placemat it exclusively came back to Charlie so that means Charlie was att*cked

before Cathy nan Olsen she comes out then he sees her he's like oh my god she

realizes something's wrong she goes to leave oh no you don't I got your shirt I'm yanking you back you're

trying to get away you're trying to get away I got your pants I'm trying to reach for this hammer and he's trying to get away

she has to crawls everything so pants around her ankles now oh here's the meat spray there's the meat yes you come out

of your pants okay you go down but now I'm hitting you some of these are

actually coming through because there's like two marks on the wall there b*at her when she's dead oh yes oh yes and

she does bring up her arm once she's got a perfect circle mark with that hammer hit her in the face

then it goes a bathroom he goes in here we got blood in front of the sink

washing probably his hands probably his face and the hammer Benny Lee you still

got the hammer in his hand and he didn't even shut the door behind you a jar I mean seriously that your what y'all

just did was very impressive makes perfect sense to me it also says we know the k*ller who knows where the hammer is yes who knows

how to find the bathroom this is a small house and Tiffany's bedroom was just feet away from where

her parents were k*lled it's hard to imagine that she didn't hear these att*cks at all but it's possible k*ller

comes out he's got the hammer in his hand goes up to this gate and we know he

goes to this intersection and it's white five o'clock in the morning ourselves until dark and he does it stick this in

here he want a good ten feet in it at least yeah how'd y'all find it we were

desperate checking trash cans paulvitch ditches everything we're happy for you man the location of the hammer suggests a route

that leads directly to two of our suspect we know that Salazar lived to the left up here just about three blocks

away and straight ahead down this street is Mark Craig calendars mother-in-law's right all right let's go drive it

where's the cell is our compound according to a neighbor Paul Salazar was

seen banging on doors about four o'clock that morning which is just around the time we think the m*rder could have occurred

he also possibly had a prior altercation with Charley at that lawnmower shop

where they both worked you were working at the lawnmower shop with with Charlie Hayes did y'all ever have a disagreement

between the two year with a Hispanic

male that worked at the lawnmower shop I was the only Hispanic know there but I've never seen him have a disagreement

okay and the murders happened why miss bell rings she's dead man she made a sworn affidavit she swore you were there

between 4:00 and 4:30 in the morning she's asleep in the car you're banging on his door I didn't have a watch on me either but I

don't think it was that late Paul is denying everything he's saying that he and Charlie were buddies and was home

that nine hours before our crime ever even took place there have been rumors

of Tiffany and Brian's involvement in this crime for 16 years Sam Kelly nice to meet you talk to you from that

what we need to do is track down any person we can find who might have witnessed firsthand any altercations

between Charlie and Brian and Tiffany in the weeks leading up to the m*rder I don't know what happened but I did not

agree with everybody is eager to share

what they've heard where did you hear that but so far it's mostly rumors and

hearsay in the legal world

it's called hearsay and it's inadmissible because it's not first-hand information we weren't there for it to

be admissible it has to be what somebody saw with their own eyes or hard with their own ears this is your quote

Brian's relationship with both of them was good if they approved of the relationship kind of the opposite of

what you're saying there and that's one wondering if this is stuff you picked up after they were m*rder*d right having

solid witness testimony is not only the key to building an airtight case it's also the best way to

find the truth well anything else along those lines any behavior that you witnessed break house yeah certainly

very blue did you recall that maybe

Hauser had some inappropriate feelings toward Kathy that's what Kathy told you

right okay now we're starting to get some first-hand information basically Crick

was the yes and it was over Kathy yeah so it's kind of all coming to a boil

if you think about it it Craig held her out can't see Kathy he gives her his kids there's a fight he cuts it all

it's coming to a boil we're Charlie I think kicked him out for good yep and he couldn't take that he couldn't stand the

fact that he couldn't see her anymore and nobody tells me what to do exactly

the story about Charlie's fight with Craig and the weeks before the m*rder could be critical to this case we've

heard there's another man who might have more first-hand information about that are you chuck Chuck Johnny bonds and

we've heard that he hangs out in a local bar I was standing there when Charlie kicked his ass and threw him over the fence and Craig Belden right strikes

down I'll k*ll you you heard that I heard the as*ault and hurting witnesses right up one bang no death no eccentric

glance I'll k*ll you we've got more

indicators all pointing toward Craig Hauser but before we can go there we need to verify Bryan's alibi remember on

the night of the m*rder yourself and some other people were at James tanzic apartment Bryan has always claimed and

he slept over at a friend's house and he didn't leave there until 5:00 a.m. because he had to go home and most moms

yard did a Brian stay there all night okay do you remember him leaving

do you remember Brian Lee I know he left to go back to my did he not have a car

Richard Rogers and Brian's brother stories match their original statements

now it's time to talk to Brian let's hear his story of what happened that night unless you what we think about him

we were right for each other you know we all had that understanding you know we didn't try to do anything inappropriate

in the house so tell me signs of

deception wise the way he's kicked back in the chair and all that as a cop what do y'all see y'all never had a conflict

it was looks pretty did not read

anything funny yeah he looks like he knows something he tells you and if he doesn't he tells you seem pretty honest

about it I know that this is over your head for the last 16 years how's it

affected you I mean we lost so many friends in the process and that's the

painful thing all the people used to hang out with his trailer back cipolla and we lost pretty much everybody we've

spoken to everybody in the world of Brian and Tiffany and it's time for us to make a decision about their

involvement okay so let's look at Tiffany everybody she didn't wake up probably the luckiest thing ever

happened her last it's a good thing that Tiffany didn't wake up that night that's a good point if she did it why would you call her father still after you didn't

know he won't live inside she did [Music] whoever did this but had blood all of

them she didn't have anything she has nothing she appeared to be pretty pristine and we go over here to Brian

nobody actually says they here Kathy or Charlie say we told Brian he can come around in there

Charlie didn't tell you that he doesn't want Brian to come over anymore okay okay alibi'd out

that's definitely cleared up I didn't think he had a guilty bond order odd

Tiffany not only lost her parents but she and Brian have been the victims of rumors and suspicions for the last 16

years 16 years later yeah so when all those people that all these years have

been thinking that they did it now y'all can go tell them all they were wrong we're now down to two suspects we don't

have a lot of information pointing to Paul Salazar so we're gonna focus our investigation on Craig Hauser

I think if Craig Hauser did this I think Donald Reed knows it according to

Craig's statement on the night of the m*rder he and his stepbrother Donald went out drinking and stayed in a local hotel

called grumpies the next morning they checked out of a hotel and moved to a new one in Sugar Land where they were

gonna be working construction so now I would like to see what Donald Reed has to say about that night so y'all were

standing grumpies motel y'all be inhabit some club do you remember that yeah because Tonya had

just came back around okay so she was your girlfriend oh yeah okay you talking about break

right and the next morning when you got up got out of bed to go to work was Craig in the room with you no I was with

target so after Texas saloon you didn't see him till he arrived in truely yeah

and I believe he was late getting there oh my god he completely destroys Craig

houses alibi bouncer says he went back to motel and spent the night with Donald at Grumpy's

motel and Donald says he didn't come back at all how long's it been since you talked to break probably six to eight

months he came up here walked Amador drunk as hell first thing hey man you got a place I could lay up and sleep and

I'm thinking years and you come straight here to my house and what a place to lay down and sleep

really he said that Craig did not come back he didn't see Craig till the next

day and surely he never said that before

beautiful so not only did Donald destroy Craig's alibi

I'm thinking that his story of Craig showing up at his house unannounced drunk looking for a place to crash

sounds a lot like our crime scene we

have a lot of clues pointing toward the involvement of Craig Hauser in the 1997 m*rder of Charlie and Cathy Hayes so

today we're headed to Arkansas to track him down and try and get a DNA sample because that's never been done before see what he has to say

compared to this statement in 97 Craig's alibi has always been that he and Donald

Reid spent the night at a hotel nearby called grumpies before leaving the next morning for a new hotel in Sugar Land

but according to Donald read statements today that is not true on that night that they were k*lled because I'm kind

of new to this on that night roomie Baxter reads his name okay and we were

there in a hotel room we know from the

hotel records that Craig did not check into that hotel in Sugar Land until the day after the m*rder either he's

remembering that incorrectly or he's lying there are some people that said that that maybe you and Kathy had had an

affair is there any truth to that y'all what y'all never have any type of relationship okay did you ever actually

live in that house or did they for a length of time a week they're all the time doing all that music recording I

mean sh**t I was probably there seven eight hours a day every day okay whenever you slip over there whenever

you stayed the night where would you sleep at they had a couch didn't you and Charlie have a fight or something it

wasn't a fight there was never a fist thrown nothing like that I never knocked to the ground Harley and I never ever

got into a physical altercation every in our life anything

Tiffany or her and we got a filter what's the truth and what isn't the

truth it's no surprise that Craig denied everything but the very first cold case that I ever

worked I learned that the best way to solve a cold case is by finding the most

important people in their lives after the m*rder happened so the agenda today

is to find all the women who have ever dated flirted with kiss drank a beer

with had sex with our god forbid been married to craig Hauser there was a time you were separated from your husband I

believe and that you actually dated Craig house well they think I had

something to do with murdering PC and he went like telling me how they found the

body and I was just like so scared he said the man was sitting in a recliner

and someone had come from behind and just a bunch of times he said it

att*cked from behind while sitting in the recliner is not public knowledge so

just that one statement alone is the one detail of the scene that no one would know but the police K*llers always tell

somebody they the crap out it or they brag about it sometimes both depending

on who they're trying to impress or intimidating yeah some of those

relatives never do believe him you know I just kept insisting that point that he was this dairy had nothing to do with it

he woke up and how tragic it was perhaps see that okay so he told you he was

there he woke up and they were dead what brought that conversation up he would have nightmares at night sometimes and

he'd wake up and say that you felt like yeah blood on his hands and he just didn't know what was real and what

wasn't good anymore or did he say anything about the w*apon I said he had blood on his hands he was trying to

throw it away it's not a confession but it's a

admission that he was there apparently Craig's conscious isn't quite as clear as we thought it was I thought it was

gonna be a feather day we finally got some chicken it seems like Craig has

made some slips over the years and we want to catch him red-handed so we want to use his old buddy Donald Reed to try

and get him to say some things he might have never said before tell you what we take him a bottle Patrol and it make any phone call we wanted to you've been very

helpful I ask if you do something else and you don't have to do it but I'm gonna ask if you do it I want you to call him and

just tell him that we called you in we'll come back up your top teeth and

wire up your phone and we can listen in so okay Donald's more than happy to help

us out I just hope he can sound convincing otherwise it's gonna be a bust if Craig knows that he's faking it

yeah you talk just like you'd only talk to him and again I think you'll know exactly what I come up well thank you

being a little pissed that we're coming back might be appropriate yeah

[Music]

hey you heard anything more about the cops coming around you let me tell you

something they came to my house again yeah they sure did and I don't know what

the tough but you know I just got out of prison dude and last thing I need pigs come around my house and it's freaking

me out where did you meet me at did you come to the jobsite did you meet me at the hotel

I mean I don't remember sixteen years ago bro nervous no bro how would you be at the

hotel in certain land if we had to go in to Sugarland yet

Craig Hauser has now given us three different stories about where he was the

night of the m*rder in 1997 he said he stayed at Grumpy's hotel a few days ago

he told us he stayed at a different hotel in Sugar Land and today he's saying he doesn't remember where he was

so we might not have gotten the confession we were hoping for but all of these new inconsistencies helped build a

circumstantial case we don't want to write up the probable cause yet let's wait and see with the DNA results today

[Music]

all right the first thing is the hammer is inconclusive but we figured that was

a huge possibility because we know that hammer was rinsed off in that scene the white t-shirt the panties and then we

got her sweatpants all three of these are extremely weak which means basically

they're useless we were all hoping to get DNA results from Kathy's clothing

especially where we know her shirt and her pants were grabbed by the suspect unfortunately it came back far too weak

to be able to ID our k*ller on a marijuana cigarette the one that was halfway smoked comes back to all cells

are definitely him or cannot explode him

I would definitely appeal on the whole cigarette is also pull with nobody else

so it falls on both so that tells me the role of marijuana droids came from Paul so maybe Charlie you know saw Paul

earlier and and picked up two joints but then we're talking touch D but if he rolled the joints and sold it to him he

it would be Paul Salazar absolutely because he probably did on it which one man he rolled them which would mean he sold us but again what the hit was and

he said that before the DNA puts Paul Salazar with the joint and even though that's no evidence that he's the k*ller

it does show that he's been lying to the police he's been hanky since we've been

here he didn't want to cooperate he didn't want come down here he hadn't come down he had been man but it could be hinky because he knew he sold him

dope and he says he's only been inside their house one time but he wouldn't have to be inside their house if he's

just given Kathi some dope to smoke or char knew well I think y'all need to get Paul Salazar down here and put him in

the interrogation room in right on the way you never have before and showing the DNA report with his name

on it so you would you gotta accusing them hard interview for the first time

[Music]

hey Paul I'm Alan brown how you doing sir I know you're a real busy guy Paul

but it would really help us if we could go down to the office because we got to clear some things up on your original statement and I have some questions for

you that I really need some honest answers on I bet I know and I'm sure that well let me ask you this did you

did you ever go inside the Charlie's house and like smoke marijuana with Charlie well it's okay I mean this is

what I'm talking about we need the truth did you sell marijuana to make extra money let me get let me just talk to an

attorney all right no disrespect y'all okay I just want to see where I'm where I'm going with this and I just want to make

sure what's driving me crazy is that

there is a perfectly valid innocent explanation but because Paul Salazar is afraid to

talk to the police a capital m*rder case would go unsolved that's what's making me crazy okay how'd

it go

nice we all agree after all that we've done this week the evidence against

Craig Hauser is huge we have a k*ller who knows where the hammer is yes who knows how to find the bathroom down this

tree just work for Hauser's mother Lynn Gregg Toland I'll k*ll you you heard it no es entered but I'll k*ll your ass how

would you be at the hotel in circle and if we hadn't go in the Sugar Land did he say anything about the w*apon he said he

had blood on his hands he was trying to throw it away but we can't ask for his indictment until we can clear out this

DNA on Tamara want a cigarette belonging to Paul Salazar [Music]

this is the moment we always hate I know because there's nothing we can do about it but sit here and wait I know if Paul

Salazar has an explanation is perfectly innocent then we're good well we're back

hey what happened we met with Paul Salazar at his Attorney's office basically Paul's

explanation was several times he's given Charlie or Cathy your joint that was the

reason that he was so hanky he you know I guess thought we could file on him now for delivering marijuana so when we left

there we contact the DA's office and they were good with the explanation felt

like it made sense and that cleared him and they've agreed to take to the grand jury and request an indictment on Craig

Hauser for capital m*rder [Music]

for Samantha and Tiffany I think just knowing who did this to their mom and their dad will at least relieve them of

some of the pain they have felt all these years you know you can lose a

parent and it can it can affect you but when you lose both parents and you're so young it changes your whole world for

the rest of your life everything changes and that's what happened with these girls for girls Tammy's got some good

news for y'all we talked to the DA's office and they've agreed to present the

case to a grand jury and ask for a capital m*rder indictment on Trey Hauser you and Brian are absolutely cleared in

everybody's minds thank you

the case is good the case is strong and now everybody who's ever looked at you know thought you had anything to do with

this is gonna know that you did not I lost the whole world and it's been

really really hard I could never hurt my parents I love them so much thank you thank you

so much for Tiffany's had finally know that the whole world gets to hear that

she had nothing to do with it and that the person who k*lled her dad and her stepmom is gonna be held accountable has

to be a good feeling thank you so much Langly yes finally I had a chance to

speak to them right now all I could say was I love you

and I carry your music with me every day

[Music]