09x04 - Driven to m*rder

[bunniefuu]

[dispatcher speaking]

[woman crying]

- [dispatcher speaking]
- [woman speaking]

We don't know
if she would've survived,

because the person
that k*lled her

left her to die
on the side of the road.

[woman speaking on phone]

[opening theme music playing]

[narrator] Dawn Meade is leaving
Connecticut for a new life in Virginia.

Mom asked me if I could
drop her off at the bus station,

and I said, "Of course,
like, anything for you."

- Let me get that, Mom.
- Oh, such a gentleman.

I was talking to
my mom, I was like,

"You're gonna love it out there,
you know, Virginia's a nice place."

If I could've drove her
to Virginia, I would've,

but it was [laughs]
a far ride, so,

they took the bus,
but it was, it was nice.

Make sure you got everything.

Forget my head if
it weren't attached.

Dawn was loving life. You
know, living it one b*at at a time.

Dawn loved to experience
new things, different things

I really thought that it was
a great idea, you know?

That she'd be somewhere new

and I felt like maybe
this was a positive,

you know, change for her.

Joseph.

[narrator] Dawn's partner, Greg,
has promised her a fresh start.

[Joseph Muratori] It makes
sense why Greg came into our life.

Seemed like a pretty funny guy.

She laughs a lot, so,

I don't see my mom being with someone
that's, you know, not gonna make her laugh.

- I'll call you when I get there.
- Okay.

Love you.

Love you too, Mom.

She was a great mother.
Sometimes too good in a way,

you know, 'cause I could do nothing
wrong. 'Cause I'm her only boy.

- Bye!
- [Zarges] Good luck!

- Take care. Have a great one.
- Love you.

- [Zarges] Bye, love you.
- [Gregory Veres] Bye.

My mom being happy definitely
made me happy, for sure.

[narrator] Dawn and Gregory
are going to live in a community

called Blue Ridge Shores.

Hello.

Well, well, you
made it. Come on in.

They decided that they would
go and stay with his grandmother

and his brother up
in Louisa County.

This is James, Greg's brother.

Hi, James.

[Zarges] They had
everythin laid out for them,

money, a place to stay, a job.

They were gonna help
get them back on their feet

Well, come on in, sit down.

When she got out there, um,

she, she loved it, like,
she loved Louisa, you know.

She seemed like she was in a good
spot, you know, a good head space.

Thank you.

She was, you know, really
excited when she got there.

[rock 'n' roll music playing]

One thing about Dawn was
that she really loved going out.

She was the life of the party, like,
always smiling, always laughing.

And, you know, you could
tell when Dawn's in the room,

because she's either laughing...

or, or telling jokes
or messing around.

[Greg] Grandma, Dawn
and I are going to eat tonight.

You ready?

[Zarges] When it came to the
two of them, they went out a lot.

Dawn was very, very sociable.

She talked to anybody
and everybody. She just...

She loved to go
to bars and stuff.

[pensive music playing]

[phone ringing]

[dispatcher speaking]

[James Veres speaking]

[dispatcher speaking]

[James speaking]

[narrator] Greg's brother James
is known to local law enforcement.

My experience with
James Veres has been, uh,

very friendly one.

Uh, he's called us in the past

any time he's having
any mental health crisis.

[dispatcher speaking]

[James speaking]

[dispatcher speaking]

[James speaking]

[James sighs]

[narrator] Deputy Gallagher
responds to James's call...

and heads to the address
in Blue Ridge Shores.

When I pulled into the
driveway and approached him,

he... very cordial,
was normal with me.

Hey, James. How you doing?

[Deputy Gallagher] He was
released from the hospital

I think a day or two prior,
uh, for a similar situation.

The only thing different
was him talking about

his grandmother's car
that had damage to it.

[Deputy Gallagher]
What happened?

[James] Um, I mean, I don't
know, maybe a deer or something?

There's left front damage
to the hood of the vehicle.

There was damage
to the windshield

where it meets the hood
on the passenger's side.

I started questioning about, uh,
what happened with the vehicle.

[camera shutter clicks]

Who's been driving it?

[phone ringing]

[dispatcher speaking]

[woman crying]

- [dispatcher speaking]
- [crying]

[woman speaking]

[phone ringing]

[officer speaking]

[man speaking]

[officer speaking]

[man speaking]

[officer speaking]

[man speaking]

[siren wailing]

[police radio
playing indistinctly]

[narrator] Patrol Deputy
Hughes turns on his body ca

and heads to the
scene of the 911 call.

Our dispatch advised
me that the caller

had called and said there was
a female face-down in a ditch

at the back gate of Blue Ridge
Shores on Firehouse Drive.

When I'm pulling up,

I can already see the female's
body, uh, next to a tree,

approximately 20, 25
feet off the roadway.

[car door shuts]

So I check on the female to make
sure that there was no signs of life.

And there was not.

So, after initially looking at the
scene, investigating the scene...

I was also taping
off the crime scene...

to make sure that
nobody came in or out,

we can keep this, uh, crime
scene as clean as we could,

and there was no...

extra people walking into it that
we didn't know or didn't want in there,

so we could investigate it
fully without, without any issues.

[car door shuts]

[police radio
playing indistinctly]

It's very unusual for us to have
a call like this in Louisa County.

So I'm running scenarios
through my head,

okay, well, first thing we
gotta do is try to figure out,

you know, whether or not
this is gonna be a homicide,

or just a death investigatio

What I first saw when I, I
pulled up was tire tracks.

They were through
the grass area.

That's unusual, 'cause people
don't usually drive off the road.

It was somebody's
front yard, even.

The body was up
by a tree, face down.

She had a pair of shorts on,

a shirt with a,
like, a sweat jacket.

There was some bruising on the back
of her neck and also her lower abdomen.

[police radio
playing indistinctly]

[Deputy Gallagher] James had made mention
that his brother's girlfriend, Dawn,

had not returned home.

Um, looking at the car
that's got the damage to it

I was informed that a
female had passed away

off to the side of the road.

And I also have James that
told me that Dawn was missing.

So, I start...

putting these things together,

and I'm thinking, maybe...

this could be all related.

On the deceased female, there
was a tattoo on her right leg,

uh, that had the name of John.

The other officer had asked
if Dawn had any tattoos,

and found out
that she in fact did.

At that point, we were
presuming her to be Dawn Meade.

One of the shoes was about 28 feet
away from where the body was found.

Another one was


None of us had seen
anything like that.

Uh, there was also a scuff mark
in the ground in that same area,

that was basically
our ground zero.

The car that struck this
woman struck her so hard,

it knocked her out of her shoes.

[narrator] The crime scene is just
outside the gate to Blue Ridge Shores.

I noticed that there's a guard shack
at the back gate of Blue Ridge Shores.

On that guard shack was
multiple CCTV cameras.

CCTV is your silent
witness, uh, per se.

Um, it tells the story, it
doesn't have any bias.

It validates facts.

Can I get access to all
the cameras at the gate?

Certainly would hope that the incident
that took place was on this camera,

uh, 'cause that would
give us a better timeline,

hopefully it would give us images
of the persons that were involved.

[Sergeant Mark Stanton] Based off
the time the body had been present,

we started rolling around


just when it
started getting dark.

[clicking]

Look at that.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Sergeant Stanton]
Stop right there.

Rewind a couple of frames.

We did see, uh, the vehicle
pass through the gate,

what seemed to be about the same
body style as our vehicle of interest.

- Try to zoom into the driver.
- [typing]

But due to the fact that
the glare off the windshield

from the security lights that
were out on the back gate,

we weren't able to ascertain
who exactly was driving.

[Sergeant Stanton]
Stop right there.

Look at the tag on it.

[Sergeant Stanton] We zoomed in

and were able to discern
what the license plate was.

And it, sure enough, matched
the license plate of the vehicle

that Ms. Ross owned, which
was a 2014 Chevy Cruze green car.

The vehicle
appeared to be intact,

there was no damage,
there was no dust on it.

Keep going.

Is, is that the Chevy leaving?

The vehicle comes
through the gate

at 11:02 p.m.

Just a few minutes later
though, the vehicle leaves.

Which is kinda bizarre,
most people at 11:02 at night

are coming home for the nigh

The vehicle came back
through the gate again at 11:41.

We noticed that there was no
visible damage, uh, to the vehicle,

that was visible in the footage.

So, we can come
to the conclusion that

the incident hadn't
occurred yet.

We still don't know
who was driving the car,

who might've been
the occupants of the car.

We just know it
was the same car.

Uh, and so, it, it...

it kinda added, uh, an element
of confusion to what was going on.

Let's keep watching.

There it goes again.

The vehicle left
again at 1151 hours.

Most people either go back to
their house at Blue Ridge Shores

or they're leaving Blue
Shor to go somewhere else,

but they don't come in and out
the gate multiple, multiple times.

We just thought it was really
unusual behavior at this point.

[narrator] Investigators
continue watching until 12:25 a.m.

Whoa.

[whispering] What's going on?

This time, when the vehicle came
through the gate at Blue Ridge Shores,

um, was... [exhales] uh,

little different than the other
previous times that we viewed it.

The vehicle seemed to be
traveling at a high rate of speed.

You could tell because the
headlights were bouncing.

Then the vehicle appears
to slow down significantly

just prior to getting
to the back gate area.

When it comes back,

soon as it comes up,

you see the front license plate

shaking back and forth.

We can see that it's
the 2014 Chevy Cruze,

and now it has significant
damage to the front end, it's visible.

Now we can show that the car got
damaged somewhere between 11:51

and 12, uh, 12:30.

Look at 'em.
Let's keep it going.

[narrator] Investigators
are stunned

as the car exits the
communi for a third time.

[Prosecutor Rusty McGuire]
This time when it comes in,

the vehicle immediately leaves.

This is not making sense.

Keep playing.

Can you switch to
the back camera?

At 12:39, we observed
the same vehicle

coming back into the back
gate of Blue Ridge Shores.

But instead of using the keycard

to activate the gate and
have the gate open up,

it did something truly bizarre
that I've never seen before.

They tried to break
into the neighborhood

without using the code.

[Sergeant Stanton] They
use the curve of the car

to actually lift the
gate over top of the car

as they were
driving underneath it.

Unbelievable.

[Sergeant Stanton] The autopsy
report described uh, extensive injuries,

and those kind of
injuries don't just happen

when you, you know,
fall down a couple steps.

Those are significant injuries that
happen when you're hit with great force.

But what was more
significant was the fact that

there was a honeycomb
pattern contusion.

That was very visible on both
her left leg and her right leg.

The grill on a Chevy
Cruze is very unique.

Its very large honeycomb pattern

was identical to the wound

on the back of Dawn Meade's leg.

At this point, without a doubt,

this is the vehicle that
k*lled Dawn Meade.

But you really couldn't tel
who was driving that night.

[narrator] Back at
the Veres's house,

Deputy Gallagher turns
on his body camera,

and James Veres is
read his Miranda rights.

[Deputy Gallagher]
James plead the Fifth,

and decides he doesn't
wanna talk any further.

It kinda hampered
the investigation,

not to get further
information from him.

[narrator] The investigator turn
their attention to Dawn's partner, Greg.

[officer sighs]

[officer speaking]

The grandmother
was very, uh, surprised.

She had no clue as
to what was going on.

[narrator] The grandmother
indicates Greg is still in his bedroom.

[officer 1 speaking]

[officer 2 speaking]

[Greg] What's up?

[officer 1 speaking]

[Deputy Robert Hughes speaking]

[Greg speaking]

[Deputy Hughes speaking]

- [Greg speaking]
- [officer speaking]

- [Greg speaking]
- [Deputy Hughes speaking]

[Greg speaking]

[Greg speaking]

[indistinct conversation
on police radio]

[Greg speaking]

- [officer speaking]
- [Greg speaking]

[officer speaking]

[narrator] Greg is placed
in handcuffs to prevent him

from interrupting
the investigation.

[Deputy Gallagher speaking]

[Deputy Gallagher] Sit
down, brother, sit down.

[Deputy Gallagher speaking]

[Deputy Gallagher speaking]

[Deputy Gallagher speaking]

[Greg speaking]

[Greg speaking]

[Deputy Hughes speaking]

[Deputy Gallagher speaking]

I noticed on the
rear of the vehicle,

um, the rear bumper there is

some kind of red,
uh, residue on it.

[Greg speaking]

[Greg speaking]

[Deputy Hughes speaking]

He attempted to kick
the rear of the vehicle,

as if to. like, wipe it off.

Uh, at that point,

he was placed under
arrest for obstruction.

There are multiple suspects. You've
got James Veres, who is acting weird.

He wants to be taken
to mental health.

You've got Gregory Veres,

who is interrupting
the investigation.

And you can at least
consider Grandma

because it was her car.

Now, your radar goes up.

[Deputy Gallagher speaking]

When I entered the residence
to speak with the grandma,

uh, I saw the purse and I,

I asked Grandma, is
this, if that was her purse

or if that was Dawn's,

and she had indicated to
me that it was Dawn's purse.

The officers seized her purse
as part of the investigation,

and they found a
receipt to a local pub

in Louisa County
called Courthouse Cafe.

Courthouse Pub has cameras,
which are my best friend.

And they also have records

of transactions made
with credit cards.

And so we took that footage
back to the Sheriff's office.

And, uh, began reviewing it

Looking at the receipt
what server might be on?

There they are.

See, Gregory Veres
and Dawn Meade arrive

at around 9:35.

Dawn was wearing the shorts
and the dark-colored shirt.

Those were all consistent
with the same clothing

she was found
wearing at the scene.

Let's try the other angle.

Play that again.

The two of them were
getting along very amicably.

From what we could see,

it just looked any normal couple

enjoying each other's company.

[narrator] Greg
and James are taken

to the local sheriff's
offic for questioning.

As I was transporting
back to the sheriff's office

James had made mention that, uh,

there's reason for
pleading the fifth,

that he didn't wanna
get anyone in trouble.

[Sergeant Mark Stanton]
When we asked James

who was driving
the car last night,

James said Greg.

Greg said James
was driving the car.

I mean, the finger was
pointing every which way

and sideways.

[narrator] Greg is
first to be questioned.

During Gregory's interview,

he kept maintaining
his innocence.

He did not k*ll this woman.

He did not k*ll his girlfriend.

[Greg crying]

[Greg speaking]

[narrator] In Connecticut,

police made contact
with Dawn's family.

[knock at door]

About 11:30 that night,

the cops came and
knocked on the door.

They asked if we
knew a Dawn Meade.

And I said, "Yeah,
that's my sister,"

and Mom says,
"That's my daughter,"

and they said, "Well,
she's been in an accident."

- [officer] ...to inform you that she's passed away.
- [Lordina Zarges gasps]

And we're sorry to inform
you that she didn't make it.

[Lordina sobbing]

[Denise Zarges] I was
in shock, you know.

Like, this, this
can't be happening.

Like, this isn't real.

This is a nightmare that
I have to wake up from.

At the same time, I also ha
to call her son and tell him

which was the
hardest part. [sniffles]

[cell phone ringing]

When I got on the phone,
Dee Dee was like, "Joe...

"Mom...

is...

Mom, Mom d*ed."

And...

I just...

I remember...

[exhales heavily] I remember,
like, just, time kind of froze

in like a sense.

Um,

I just fell to the floor
and I started crying.

[breath trembling]

[cries]

[breath trembling]

[melancholy music playing]

We were watching a
couple that appeared to be

very much in love
with each other,

having a good time with
each other, playing pool.

It looks like two people
are just out at the local bar

having a few drinks.

[Sergeant Stanton] Greg's
body language changed

It appeared that he was
upset about something.

What's going on here?

We were a little bit concern

when we saw that
part of the video

because it was 180 degrees
from what we were seeing

ten minutes before.

Huh.

Gregory has changed.

We didn't know what
it was at this point,

but we know that
something happened.

[dramatic music playing]

[suspenseful music playing]

Greg was upset about something.

We're not sure
exactly what transpired

to cause that,

but it's obvious that
there's something going on.

[suspenseful music playing]

After this incident, uh,

Greg seemed to
have settled down,

and they reverted back to,

you know, enjoying
each other's company.

[eerie music playing]

Wait a minute.
What's going on here?

A gentleman comes
over to the pool table

and puts a quarter
down on the edge of it,

indicating that he's
gonna play the winner.

[dramatic music playing]

I don't think he likes this guy.

[Prosecutor McGuire] Dawn
wo the game with Gregory,

so this man got
to play her next.

I suspect this made
Gregory jealous,

and angry that she
was playing pool

and talking to another man.

She's talking to him

and he's having more
than just conversation,

that you would expect to say,
someone just sh**ting pool,

like, "Your sh*t," or,
"Eight ball side pocket."

But did something happen?

Did they meet
up later that night?

Was he involved?

Uh, you know, we
gotta look at every angle.

Now, what's he doing?

It comes to a point
where Dawn is upset,

Greg's upset.

Maybe Dawn's upset
'cause Greg's upset.

But they come to the conclusion

where they're gonna leave

and they exit the pub together.

Stay on this guy. I
wanna see what happens.

The individual that
was playing pool

with Dawn was not a
person of interest to us,

uh, due to the fact that
he remained at the bar,

while Greg and Dawn left.

Can you switch to
the outdoor camera?

[suspenseful music playing]

Zoom in on the car.

That's gotta be the Chevy.

It's very plain to observe
that when they left the pub,

they left together
in the same vehicle.

Dawn was getting into
the front passenger seat.

Greg was getting into
the front driver's seat.

And we can see that it's

the 2014 Chevy Cruze.

We knew that within an
hour and a half, she was dead.

And that car that
she was driving in

is what k*lled her.

[narrator]
Investigators turn back

to the surveillance footage
from Blue Ridge Shores.

The way that Blue
Ridge Shores works

is you have a
keypad to enter it.

We played the
video frame-by-frame.

You can see the person
has a fluorescent yellow shirt.

The same one that Gregory
was wearing in the footage

from the Courthouse Cafe.

We have more pieces of the puzzle
that are starting to come together,

as far as who might
have been driving.

[eerie music playing]

[narrator] Investigators
continued to question Greg.

[investigator speaking]

[Greg speaking]

He indicates that he
was driving the car

and she got out of the car.

Well, what was
interesting about this

is previously he said
he wasn't driving the car.

[Greg speaking]

[police radio crackling]

[Greg speaking]

And now he's changed his story.

[investigator speaking]

[investigator speaking]

[investigator speaking]

[investigator speaking]

[investigator speaking]

[investigator speaking]

The officers start
looking over the area,

looking to see if there
was a mailbox hit.

There was no mailbox hit

in the vicinity of
Blue Ridge Shores

[Deputy Hughes] So,
througho the investigation,

obviously, the vehicle damag

uh, now Greg's story
that he hit a mailbox,

it's not believable.

So, obviously, you
lied to me once,

you're gonna lie to me again.

So now, he's basically
set himself in a position

where he was there
at the crime scene.

[Deputy Hughes speaking]

[Deputy Hughes speaking]

[Deputy Hughes speaking]

Gregory, throughout
the investigation,

kept pointing to his brother.

[Deputy Gallagher] I've
neve known his brother James

to be violent.

A, more or less, as
just wanting to talk

to a counselor somewhere.

I really didn't key
in in any indication

that he may have had
something to do with this.

[Deputy Hughes speaking]

Grandma said that
she only gave Greg

permission to drive the vehicle

the previous night.

And that James is
the only other person

that lives in the house.

He did not take the
vehicle that night.

So, that left Greg.

The problem is,
if you tell one lie,

you're gonna have to
tell ten to get out of it.

But not only conceded
that he was driving,

he then makes
another concession.

He struck something.

[Deputy Hughes] Through
the course of the investigation

we discovered there was
a no-contact protective orde

between Greg and Dawn

The no-contact protective
order would not be issued,

unless there was some
type of substantive v*olence

or thr*at that took place.

[Denise] One time, she
had, like, a black eye.

She said she tripped.

I found out later
that he had hit her.

You know, and somebody
capable of these things, you know, is

definitely capable of more.

[Deputy Hughes speaking]

[sighs heavily] [bleep]

We kept closing
in piece-by-piece.

Gregory, Gregory, Gregory.

[Prosecutor McGuire] As the
pieces started being put together,

a picture started to emerge.

[Sergeant Stanton] About 12:30,

the vehicle comes back in through
the... the gate of Blue Ridge Shores,

um, but this time
something strange happens.

The person that
k*lled Dawn Meade

was wearing a blue sweatshirt
when their arm came out of the car.

Greg Veres that morning

was wearing a blue sweatshirt.

I believe when he went home

he changed his shirt from
highway yellow to dark,

because he knew he
was gonna do a bad deed.

He probably took in the
purs thinking he was home,

and then he got
pissed off, and said,

"If I'm gonna go
out and hurt her,

I'm changing to dark clothing,
so people won't recognize me."

[Sergeant Stanton] The vehicle
was definitely the m*rder w*apon.

And from everything
that we determined

with the investigation,

um, Greg Veres was the... the driver
of that vehicle on the night of the 22nd.

[narrator] Gregory Veres is charged
with the m*rder of Dawn Mead

His grandmother
and brother, James,

are cleared of having any
knowledge or connection to the crime.

On December 12th, 2018,

Gregory Veres' trial begins

and details about what
happened that night emerge.

[Sergeant Stanton] Greg
and Dawn left the pub together,

and we were able to see that
on, uh, some of the cameras

that are on the
backside of the pub.

Dawn!

[Sergeant Stanton] At some
point, Dawn got upset with Greg,

so Dawn got out of the vehicle and
started walking back to Blue Ridge Shores.

Greg wanted to get
Dawn back in the vehicle,

but he couldn't find her.

Which explains some of the trips

in and out of the gate
during that rapid timeframe.

He lost it, saw red,
popped a gasket,

and, I mean, did what he did.

- [tires screeching]
- [screams]

You can't see her being struck.

You can't see her
flying through the air.

You can't see any of that.

But from watching it
and then going back

and watching it again and again,

and then realizing
that this is the moment,

that Greg Veres
drove off the road,

struck Dawn
Meade. It's chilling.

[narrator] Shortly after
striking Dawn with his car,

Greg leaves Blue
Ridge Shores again,

to check that she is dead.

There was no 9-1-1 call.

There was no providing life
saving measures on Dawn.

[Deputy Hughes] Greg
showed very little remorse.

He was obviously
not a caring person.

Uh, he was a violent person.

[narrator] On
December 14th, 2018,

Gregory Veres is found guilt
of the m*rder of Dawn Meade

and the felony of hit and ru

He is sentenced
to life in prison.

Gregory Veres, in my opinion,

is, um, a person with
extreme anger and v*olence.

In a rage of anger, like we
see in domestic v*olence,

he made the decision
to k*ll Dawn Meade.

[Muratori] Him going to
jail and getting life in prison,

won't bring my mother back,

but it's gonna prevent

someone else's daughter or
mother from... from being hurt.

And that... that's
what makes me happy.

[Zarges] If you're
in a relationship

the first sign of... that
evil you see in a person,

whether it's just a push
or a hand over your mouth,

get away.

Speak out,

get help,

and don't keep it hidden,

especially from your loved
ones, because they can help you.

She was... she was a ray of
sunshine. She was beautiful.

Um, and she was
sweet, and I want her...

people to remember her as they
did when she was her and smiling.