08x06 - The Three of Us

[bunniefuu]

[Det. Dru Akagi]
The Honolulu Police Department

received a 911 call
to the western point of Oahu,

there was a body
at the bottom of the hillside.

By the time I got there,
it's pitch black.

And once we brought the body
up out from the brush...

I'll never forget that.

[narrator] Jill Gibides is on
vacation in Hawaii with friends,

rapper Mark "Meezilini" Miles
and Ivanice Harris.

[Jill]
We were all like family.

Mark made a trip to Portland and
he basically came back with her.

[laughing]

And that was when I really
first met Ivy.

As time went on,

we just started being
around each other more.

We started growing a bond
with each other.

[narrator] The trip to
Hawaii is an annual tradition.

[Jill]
Hawaii was awesome.

[laughing]

Like we had a great time.

We went the first time
for my 30th birthday

and then
we went for Ivy's birthday

the second time.

This time, we went
right before her birthday.

[narrator] But there's more
to the trio's relationship

than meets the eye.

[Jill] It only went so
far with me and her

because of Mark.

You know, we loved the same man.

I wanted to do everything
for him

and have him around me
all the time,

she wanted to do everything for him
and have him all around her all the time.

[narrator] Tonight, Ivanice
and Jill are heading out.

Do you want a drink?

No, my cab will be here
any minute.

[Jill] Ivy was always ready
before me

because I'm just slow.

And I think this time,
she was like,

"I'm just going to go."

I'll see you guys in a while.

Where are you headed?

Kelley's.

We didn't always get along.

[laughing]

We would always be like,
"I'm not jealous,"

that's what it was.

You know, we're competing.

We both want this man,
but we still loved each other.

Love you.

Love you, too.

[narrator] Later that night,
Jill heads out on her own.

When she returns,
there's no sign of Ivy.

[Jill]
Mark woke right up.

Where's Ivy?

And I was like, "I don't know,

I thought she was here."

I just thought
she was back at the room.

So a little time went by,

I remember her phone
was like once that it rang

and then it went straight
to voicemail,

and then it was just off
after that.

It just straight to voicemail,
straight to voicemail.

It's getting a little late.

We're not hearing
from her, like,

we're starting to worry now.

You know,
like, this isn't like her.

We need to call the police.

[Jill] Like,
we knew something was wrong.

We knew, we could feel it.

We called the police first.

I need to report
a missing person.

And then Mark contacted
her sister.

[Onejia] When Mark
had called my mother,

she had just the saddest
look in her eyes.

And she was like,
"Your aunt is missing."

It didn't really click to me
that she was missing.

It was more like, "Oh,
she'll come back... [laughs]

give her a few hours."

[narrator] The missing person's
case is taken up by Detective Akagi

of the
Honolulu Police Department.

You really got to eliminate
the people closest to her

before you can venture out
into any other leads.

- [phone rings]
- Akagi.

And so that's
why we interviewed Mark Miles

and Jillian Gibides.

Ask them to come in, please.

[Det. Akagi speaking]

[Jill speaking]

[Det. Akagi]
We found out that Mark Miles

was the boyfriend
of both Jillian Gibides

and Ivanice Harris.

They were here
for Ivanice's birthday

and also to work as a prost*tute

in the streets of Waikiki.

[Jill] I didn't want to just
come straight out and say,

"Look, we're out here working,
and this is what it is, you know."

But it didn't matter
because she's missing.

Something is wrong.

It doesn't matter
what she was doing.

[Jill speaking]

[Det. Akagi] She did mention
that Mark and Ivanice

had a disagreement
throughout the day.

Was there a domestic problem
between the two girls

and Mark that maybe
one of them were involved

in the disappearance of Ivanice?

[narrator] Investigators
turn their attention to Mark.

[Det. Akagi speaking]

[Mark speaking]

[Det. Akagi] Ivanice asked him
to do something

and he didn't do it.

Then Jill asked him,

then he went out
and he got it for Jill.

And that, I think, it sparked
a little jealousy for Ivanice.

[narrator] Mark reveals he
and Ivy were texting all evening.

[Det. Akagi speaking]

[Mark speaking]

Part of Ivanice's routine
once she arrives at a hotel,

she'd text Mark,
"I'm at this hotel."

That night, she texted Mark,
"I'm going to be at the Aston."

And that was the last text

that Mark ever got from Ivanice.

[Det. Akagi speaking]

[Mark speaking]

He answered all the questions
that we asked of him,

but we still needed
to verify that.

And so we gave him
a polygraph examination.

That pretty much
eliminated that avenue

as far as Mark being Involved.

[Mark]
Close to five to eight hours

I was in there.

So when the police
interviewed me,

they were just trying
to figure it out

and make sure that it wasn't me.

The door opened up
and they let Jill in

and Jill came
and just gave me a hug.

[Jill] It was like
our lives just stopped.

I mean, what do we do?
What do we do now?

[Det. Akagi]
The last text that Mark Miles

got was that
"I'm going to the Aston."

So that was a starting point
to examine

what may have happened to her.

But in Waikiki,
there's not just one Aston.

There were 13
within that small area

and we didn't know

which Aston Ivanice
may have gone to.

We checked numerous hotels,

none of them recognized Ivanice.

Some had surveillance footage,
some didn't.

There was one Aston,
Waikiki Beach side,

that required us to issue them
a subpoena

before we would be allowed
to review

their surveillance footage.

[narrator]
But it will take 24 hours

for the subpoena
to be processed.

We knew at one o'clock,
she left Mark and Jillian,

so we went back
to retrace her steps.

[narrator]
Ivy told her friends

she was going
to Kelley O'Neil's bar.

[Det. Akagi] First thing I
noticed is that Kelley O'Neil's

has some surveillance cameras.

That was a starting point
for our investigation.

We spoke to workers of the bar.

Do you recognize
this girl at all?

The working girls,

they weren't allowed in the bar.

And so what Ivanice
would do is just hang out

on the outside of the bar.

Could I take a look at some of
your security camera footage?

We started from what information

Jillian and Mark gave us

is that she left the hotel room
at one o'clock in the morning.

Started at 1:00 a.m.

We started scrolling through
the surveillance footage.

Keep it playing.

That's it. That's her.

A little after 3:00,
we see a female walking up

holding a bag and just hangs out

in front of Kelley O'Neil's bar.

Based on the description

that Jillian and Mark had given,

we knew we were looking
at the right person.

Play on.

At 3:24,
we see a white male walking

by Ivanice Harris
and they high-five each other.

Rewind that, play that again.

They exchange words,

appeared to be very friendly.

That was the first interaction
we see Ivanice with anyone.

The male continues
on down Lewers Street.

Looked totally harmless to us.

All right, keep it playing.

Rewind that.

[keyboard clacking]

At 3:28,
we see another white male

exit the bar and pass
Ivanice Harris.

Go back, punch in on that.

He walks past her
and then he stops

and he turns around
and they start conversing.

He has his hand up on
that tree and kind of like

being the cool guy and,
you know.

Where's she going?

We see Ivanice leaving
with this male at 3:29,

and the last text
that Mark Miles

got was at 3:43.

That was a very short period
of time.

And this male might
have information

as to what may have happened
to Ivanice.

Who is he?

I tried to talk
to the bartenders

to see if anyone may
have recognized this male,

but they didn't recall,

or didn't know
who this person was.

Okay, let's start
from the beginning.

So we went back in time

to see when this male
may have entered the bar.

That's him.

We found him entering the bar
at about 11:35.

At 3:25,
we see this male again,

white t-shirt
and dark sunglasses

on his head,

the bouncer gives him
the handshake,

chest bump and at 3:25,
he exits the bar.

This may have been
the last person

that has seen Ivanice.

[narrator] At their hotel,

Mark and Jill are also
trying to find Ivy.

[Mark]
I was out of it, really.

Jill was the one
that kind of led the reigns,

because after that,

I was out of it. I didn't I
didn't know what to do.

Thank you for checking.

It was just kind
of a waiting game,

there wasn't really much
that we could do.

We knew the police
were going to the Aston.

So we were calling jails,
hospitals,

anywhere we could think of,
like, "Where could she be?"

[narrator] But there's no trace
of Ivy anywhere on the island.

We just hope that we find her.

[Det. Akagi]
So after striking out

with all these other
Aston hotels

and not finding Ivanice,

we served a subpoena on this
Aston Waikiki Beach side.

- [phone rings]
- Yeah.

Then we were able to get
the surveillance footage.

Is it on the system yet?

We knew that she left the bar
with this male at 3:29.

We were concentrating between


because we'd figure that
that would be the time

that would capture Ivanice and
this male walking through the lobby.

I'm hoping that she's on there,

if not, we're out of luck
at that point.

[Det. Akagi]
So at about 3:41

on the hotel footage,

we see them walking
through the lower lobby area

and they approach
the hotel elevators.

It was, like,
that's the same person,

female and the male
with the white shirt

and sunglasses on.

They appeared
to be very friendly.

And this male is a person
who can tell us

where did Ivanice go after that.

The hotel had different cameras,

so we were able to catch
different angles.

[Det. Akagi]
Let's see your face.

[Griffey] The elevator itself
had a camera

which was very clear.

[Det. Akagi]
He's leaning up against her,

and he's very cozy to her,

and he's trying to kiss her
on the neck.

[Griffey]
They seem to be happy.

They just looked
like any other couple.

There was nothing alarming
about their interactions.

Where's the footage
from the hotel hallways?

Unfortunately, when we checked,

there were no surveillance
cameras on the floors.

So we didn't even know
what floor they got off on.

It is sometimes frustrating

where you have all this
great footage...

and then all of a sudden,
there isn't a camera in the area

where you need it to be.

[narrator] Four days after
Ivy's disappearance,

police received a 911 call
from a family

on the west of the island.

[Det. Akagi] One of the
children had walked off

into a bush and he noticed
that there was a female body

at the bottom of the hillside.

By the time I got there,

it's about 8:00 p.m.,

and it's pitch black.

We lit up the area

so we could do a better
investigation.

And once we brought the body up
out from the brush, um... [inhales]

I'll never forget that.

Yeah, I'll never forget that.

[narrator] Detective Akagi
looks for any identifying features.

On her upper left chest
was the tattoo of Meezilini.

That's Mark Miles' hip-hop name.

I noticed that on her back,
there was a wing tattoo.

I knew that that was Ivanice.

She didn't end up here
by accident.

She was totally naked,
she had no jewelry on,

I knew at that point

we had a homicide on our hands.

[phone ringing]

Hello.

My mom got the call

and I remember her just
bursting out in tears.

Being 14,

I wanted to try to hide the
hurt that I'm feeling right now

because I don't understand it.

Her life was just tooken
suddenly for no reason.

[phone ringing]

Hello.

They said, well,
"We found a body last night

and we identified it
as Ivanice."

And, uh,
my stomach just dropped,

everything just, uh,
went kind of dark.

I'll never forget walking in

and seeing Mark on his knees,
just bawling.

It was so hard to see.
[crying]

[narrator]
With the missing person's case

now a homicide,

investigators return to footage

from the Aston Hotel
to retrace Ivy's last steps.

[Det. Akagi]
Once we saw Ivanice

and this male exit the elevator,

we knew that she was in
the hotel somewhere.

I saw her walking
into the hotel,

but where did Ivanice
go after that?

We had to watch just hours
and hours of footage

and it's a very tiring process.

There's no way
to leave that hotel

without being caught on camera.

[narrator] Detective Akagi
continues to view

the elevator camera footage.

[Det. Akagi]
At about 5:58 a.m.,

I observed this male coming
into the elevators.

It was very out of the ordinary.

We live in Hawaii.

Everybody's got shorts,
slippers, t*nk tops.

But here's this guy
fully decked out

in a long sleeved shirt,

long pants
and a full brimmed hat.

He has his head down
definitely appears

to be hiding from the camera.

[Griffey] There was a
tag still attached to that hat

which made me think

that it had been
recently purchased.

Who is he?

What is he up to?

He's pulling
this large duffel bag

into the elevator
and it gets kind of hung up.

You can definitely tell that,

you know,
he's exerting a lot of energy

to get this bag into there.

So I follow him in the elevator

as he goes down
to the lower lobby area.

He's got the duffel bag.

It was, like,
that's the same person

that was with Ivanice Harris.

He goes to the valet area

where they had brought
his car up for him to leave.

The valet guy
was offering some help

to take his luggage
into the car.

You can see this person

just wave him off saying,
"No, I got it."

He lowers his feet
and grabs the bag

and he heaves it into the car.
Because that bag is so heavy,

he's unable to make it
all the way into the car

and the bag ends up
on the bumper.

You could see the car just drop

from the weight of the bag.

And I told myself,
"The body is in the bag."

The body is in the bag.

[Det. Akagi]
Once I saw the car drop,

that was like the aha moment.

I got you.

[Griffey]
This is where Ivy is.

This is Ivy in that bag.

Sorry, Detective, can you just
come here for a second?

I observed
this male get in his car,

exit the valet area,

and then turn right,

and we lost footage of him
at that point.

We continue to watch
the surveillance footage.

There he is again.

Three hours later at 9:14

is when we see him
go back into the elevators.

He's still dressed
in this outfit

with the long sleeve,

the full brimmed hat,

and he has this white towel
that he's holding.

[Griffey]
There's no bag in his hand,

presumably
because Ivy was in there.

Thankfully, this time,
you can see his face.

[Det. Akagi] And it was
very important to find out

who this male was
and identify him.

[narrator] Detectives keep
watching the elevator footage.

About ten minutes later,

we see someone get back
into the elevator

dressed in m*llitary
fatigue uniform.

Hang on.

And so we compared that
with the surveillance footage

of the male leaving.
And this male, to me,

it looked like the same guy

who was wearing
the full brimmed hat

and the blue shirt,
and the same person

that was in the elevator
with Ivanice Harris.

[Griffey] He appeared
to go upstairs to his room,

changed his clothes
from his boonie hat,

as well as the long sleeves
and pants,

and then he changed
into his m*llitary uniform.

[narrator] Detectives determine
it's a U.S. Marines uniform.

They try and read
the name tag...

Who is he?

But the footage
isn't clear enough.

[Det. Akagi] He gets in the
same car and he exits the hotel.

So we issued more subpoenas
to the Aston Hotel

to get their guests ledger
to see

if they could give us a name.

I'll need to see any records
of single rooms

that were booked
on the 15th, please.

We knew this male
wouldn't be with his family

because no one
would take a prost*tute

to your room with a family.

So we were looking
for a single male

occupying a room.

Can I also have records

of room service of the same day?

Thank you.

Because we suspected
a crime happened in the room,

this guy would decline
room service.

There was only one room
with a single male

that declined room service.

When we looked
at the guest ledger,

it came out to a Nathaniel Cosby

from California.

[narrator]
Detectives search for anything

that can confirm Cosby
as the man

they saw
in the elevator footage.

[Det. Akagi] So we compared
it with him checking in.

Got his luggage.

Lo and behold,
it's that exact same bag

that the full brim guy
was pulling in the elevator.

And he's got the same
dark glasses

on his forehead.

So, at that point,
we knew that Nathaniel Cosby

was the last person
with Ivanice Harris.

Our next move was to call NCIS.

So we called Phil Camero.

[narrator] The Naval
Criminal Investigative Service

is the law enforcement agency

within the U.S. Navy
and Marines.

I'm going to need your help.

[Camero] Leave it with me.

We checked our databases

and Cosby was a master sergeant

with the United States
Marine Corps.

He was married and his family
lived in the mainland.

Dru, Phil.

He explained that Mr. Cosby
had left the islands on May 20th.

[narrator] Just four days after
Cosby was last seen with Ivy.

I'll get in touch
with his command

and find out where he's gone.

[narrator] Detective Akagi
returns to the hotel footage

to track Cosby's movements
before he leaves Hawaii.

He's got to come back.

Again, I had to watch hours
of footage.

There he is again.

He doesn't return to the hotel

till a little after midnight
that night,

so he's out all day long.

And when he returns,

he's still in his
m*llitary uniform.

He's carrying a large,
looks like a pelican case,

and that same duffel bag.

But now, the duffel bag looks
much lighter and looks empty.

[narrator] Cosby is
last seen at the hotel

checking out the next day
on the 17th of May.

[Camero] So where is he now?

Okay, I understand.

So Master Sergeant Cosby
came to Hawaii to be briefed

and his destination
was Beijing, China.

But we didn't have
jurisdiction to arrest anyone

in a foreign country.

[narrator]
With Cosby in China,

there is little choice
but to wait for him

to return to U.S. soil.

m*llitary
and civilian investigators

work together to build
an airtight case.

At this particular Aston Hotel,

you're not able to just
self-park.

Everything has to go through
the valet service.

We retrieved the log

and we were able
to get the license plate.

We ran it through our system

and we found out
that he rented a car

from Dollar Rent A Car
here at the airport.

Hi, how are you?

I'm Detective Akagi.

We'll need to see
your rental records

for the last couple of days,
please.

When you're traveling
officially on m*llitary orders

and rent hotel rooms
or rental cars,

all of that falls to the m*llitary
government credit card.

So we were able to confirm
he rented the car.

He had it
for less than five days

and he traveled over 400 miles.

Here on the island,

it's very hard
to get to 400 miles

in such a short period of time.

[narrator] Cosby's hotel
is a 55-mile

round trip

from where Ivy's body was found.

My guess is he was driving
trying to find a location

where he was going
to dispose of her body.

[Det. Akagi] During the
autopsy of Ivanice Harris,

the medical examiner determined

that basically Ivanice Harris
was strangled

or choked to death.

We did a search warrant
for room 924

at the Aston Waikiki Beach side.

The room was pretty much
wiped clean.

But there was a few spots
of blood on the curtain.

[narrator] Forensics run
tests on the blood samples.

[Det. Akagi] The blood stains that
we got were very minimal amounts.

And they came back inconclusive.

We knew
that Nathaniel Cosby was gone

from a little after 6:00
in the early morning,

all the way
to just past nine o'clock.

What is he doing
for three hours?

So we made two search warrants,

one for his bank records
and one for his phone records.

Somewhere past eight o'clock,

he was using the cell tower

at the westernmost
part of Honolulu.

And that's only a few miles away

from where the body
of Ivanice Harris was found.

Look at this.

[narrator] The bank records
also show a withdrawal

near Cosby's m*llitary base

the day before
he left the island.

[Det. Akagi] Caucasian male,
mid to late 30s,

short to bald.

I knew that
that was the same guy.

[Camero] It was a little
blurry, but you could see that

he had some
kind of distinctive mark

on his right eyebrow.

It could be defensive wounds.

We do know that Ivanice
had long fingernails,

and some of those fingernails,

uh, had been broken.
And we believe

it was during the fight
for her life.

We've got him.

[narrator] But with Cosby
out of the country,

detectives can't question him.

If he wasn't returning
to the islands,

we wouldn't
have any jurisdiction.

[phone ringing]

Akagi.

But on June 5th,

we were notified

that he was heading back
to Honolulu.

[narrator]
On the morning of June 5th,

detectives pick up
Nathaniel Cosby

at Honolulu Airport

and bring him in
for questioning.

[Det. Akagi speaking]

[Nathaniel speaking]

[Det. Akagi]
We knew that was not true.

That was a lie
because we have already

in our hands
all the surveillance footage

of what he did when he left.

[Camero] We showed him
video of him coming down

and moving towards
his vehicle with a suitcase.

[Det. Akagi speaking]

[Camero speaking]

[Det. Akagi speaking]

[Camero]
At that point, uh,

we had more than enough

probable cause
to make an arrest.

[narrator] Detectives piece
together what happened that night.

[Det. Akagi] Once Ivanice
and Nathaniel Cosby

left from Lewers Street,

they walked
to the Aston Hotel, beachside.

In his hotel room,

I believe things
got out of control.

I believe
that he got the injuries

from her fighting back
and retaliating.

At some point, Nathaniel Cosby
k*lled Ivanice Harris,

stuffed her in the duffel bag...

and took her out
to the Makua Cave area,

dumped her body into that brush

and left her there.

[narrator] Cosby is tried
in a m*llitary court

and found guilty
of Ivy's m*rder.

He is dishonorably discharged
from the Marines

and sentenced to life
in a m*llitary prison.

[Det. Akagi] Surveillance
footage in this case was huge

because she could have been
with anyone that night.

And without
that surveillance footage,

I think it would have been
very difficult

to prosecute this case.

[narrator] For his role
in bringing Ivy and Jill

to Hawaii for prostitution,

Mark Miles serves
three years in prison

for human trafficking.

[Mark] While I was in jail,

I was going through
just torment,

you know,
pain and having to deal

with the situation sober now.

I went through waking up
in cold sweats and nightmares

and I started looking
at things different.

I started seeing
women different.

So now since I've been home,

me and Jill started a nonprofit

called Ivy's Angels,

and that's just helping women
get out the game.

[Jill] She wasn't just a
prost*tute, at all by any means.

You know,
she was like a second mom

to her niece.

[crying]

I just miss her a lot,

and I wish I knew
how life would be

if she was still here
to this day.

But...

God has a plan for everybody,
so...

I can wait to see her in...
To see her again.