04x02 - Seen at Susan's

[bunniefuu]

♪♪

Narrator: a small town disappearance...

It was all my parents could think about.

The only word there is to describe it --

t*rture.

Narrator: ...a web of deceit...

The question is, why is he lying?

Narrator: ...multiple suspects...

Everywhere we turned, people had motives.

Narrator: ...every one of them,

Caught on camera.

This is crazy.

Crimes aren't spectator sports.

Nobody is usually there.

Narrator: only cctv can reveal who is guilty.

If there's one thing that could help crack a case,

It's a video camera.

This could be the answer to the entire case.

♪♪

♪♪

--Captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

Captions paid for by discovery communications

♪♪

Narrator: april 11, 2008,

Glendive, montana.

♪♪

It's a typical friday evening,

And 34-year-old medical transcriptionist

Susan casey is looking forward to a night out.

She was starting to, you know, date

And look at opportunities of finding love again.

Narrator: recently separated from her second husband,

Ted casey,

Susan is enjoying her new lifestyle.

Bradley: things seemed to be going very good for her.

She just seemed to be doing great.

♪♪

She moved into an appointment, and the kids went with her.

Stanhope: susie had four kinds --

Mariah and shea from a previous marriage,

And then she had charlie and kianna,

And she loved her kids and would do anything for them.

Oh, you made me toast?

Mom. Mmm!

Susie was an outgoing happy person,

And she was a tease.

How did you know I was hungry?

You're a mind reader.

She was very involved with mariah,

Her oldest daughter.

She was, like, almost a little susie herself.

Sorry. [ Laughs ]

Okay.

Narrator: tonight, mariah and shea

Are staying at home alone

While the youngest two girls are at their dad, ted's, house.

That's on you. Okay? Yep.

Susie was ready to move on,

Go onto the next chapter of her life

And be happy with her kids.

♪♪

Narrator: but come morning, there's a problem.

Mom, are you there?

♪♪

[ Ringing ] mom, it's me.

Mom, seriously, pick up.

♪♪

[ Telephone ringing ]

Hello?

Mariah called and said,

"Grandma, mom hasn't come home yet,

And I'm really worried because she's never done this before.

She's always called us

Whenever she was going to be really late."

So she was really scared.

♪♪

Marlene contacts susan's best friend

And sister-in-law, val.

Hello?

We know susie. She would come home.

She would be there for her kids no matter what.

Her phone was like her lifeline.

Susan, it's val. Where are you?

It was very rare that she would ever not answer her phone,

And so I knew that...

There definitely was something wrong.

Narrator: val heads directly to susan's apartment

On west bell street.

Stanhope: susie was not there,

But nothing seemed like it was out of place.

Kind of went into, like, detective mode,

And I was going to backtrack her steps and find her.

♪♪

Narrator: though they are separated,

Val starts by calling susan's husband, ted casey.

♪♪

But he's not seen susan since she dropped their daughters off

At his place yesterday evening.

I asked mariah, "well, where was your mother last night?"

She said, "she went to linda g*y's."

♪♪

Narrator: val reaches out to her

And learns that susan left linda's house

At around 9:30 p.m.

To go and meet her new boyfriend.

Your adrenaline starts to rush when you know something is wrong

And just doesn't feel right.

[ Ringing ]

Narrator: so val contacts susan's new flame, brad holzer.

I said, "where is susie?

She didn't come home last night."

And he addressed me, "yeah. She did come home.

I'm the one who dropped her off at 5:00 a.m."

[ Sighs ] all right.

That's when we realized that we needed to report her missing.

♪♪

[ Sighs ]

Narrator: glendive police in dawson county head

Straight to susan's apartment.

They need to retrace susan's movements

From the night before.

What was most concerning about this case is the fact

That she had not been in contact with her children

Which was so unlike her

That something had to have happened to her.

Do you know where she was going?

To her friend linda's house.

Linda who?

Linda g*y.

♪♪

Narrator: detectives drive across town

To linda g*y's house.

-Hello. -Oh, hello.

Linda, when was the last time you say susan?

g*y: she came out to my house,

And we sat and visited for a little while.

Susie told me about brad holzer,

About how she was dating him and what a nice guy he was,

And he treated her really nice,

And he made her happy.

Oh, sorry.

She received a phone call...

Hi.

...and she came back and said, "oh, well,

I'm going to meet my guy friend in town."

Is everything okay?

Narrator: susan left around 9:30 p.m.

To go and meet her new flame.

So detectives head straight to his place.

He was the last person, possibly, to see her alive,

So let's check out his story.

Narrator: upon arrival,

Detectives discover something surprising.

I just want to shut this door because my wife...

Narrator: brad holzer is a married man.

Brad was married at the time of susan's disappearance.

They had three children together.

Is that a problem?

Narrator: brad claims that he last saw susan

Outside her apartment

When she got out of his truck at around 5:00 a.m.

When she left his pickup, she was wearing his sweatshirt

And had her black leather jacket draped over her arm.

It would be easier to come down to the police station...

Clearly if brad had dropped susan off

In front of her apartment,

And she only had to walk approximately



And she never made it, that made him a suspect.

♪♪

Narrator: if brad is lying,

Detectives need to prove it.

Officers, I want you to get this area secure, please.

The montana division of criminal investigation

Is brought in

To help search for forensic evidence

Outside susan's apartment.

We received a call,

A request for investigative assistance,

From the glendive police department.

Scan this area. Take pictures.

Narrator: and they find something suspicious

In an alley alongside susan's apartment block.

[ Camera shutter clicks ]

Johnson: we saw drag marks that looked consistent

With somebody potentially being dragged

As though their feet

Made those drag marks in the dirt.

Hey, check the garbage cans.

Narrator: and that's not all.

Below the apartment complex, there was these storefronts,

And in looking at one of these,

They discovered numerous footprints,

Almost as if somebody had been standing there

And going back and forth.

What do you got?

Though it could have been something else,

We were very concerned about that.

♪♪

Narrator: investigators need to find out

Who made those prints.

♪♪

And they're in luck.

About 100 yards down the street from susan casey's apartment,

On the same side of the street,

Was a branch of u.s. Bank

With an atm cash machine.

Attached to that machine was a camera.

♪♪

If there's one thing that can help crack a case,

It's a video camera.

Light: oh, my goodness.

This could show what happened to her.

♪♪

Narrator: missing mom susan casey

Was last seen in the early hours

Outside her apartment, on april 12, 2008.

Investigators have found drag marks

And footprints on the ground,

And they hope a nearby atm camera

Can help fill in the blanks.

♪♪

The bank is just two doors down from susan's apartment

And the alley where the drag marks were found.

Yes. I'm very interested in any footage

You might have from that camera that you have by your atm.

Yes, please take a seat.

The first time we watched that bank video,

We were hoping we'd see something valuable to us.

Here it is. Here it is, yep.

Thank you.

Narrator: the bank manager queues up the footage

From the morning of april 12th.

The camera looks out at some empty parking spots

In front of the elks social club

Opposite susan's apartment block.

Susan's front door is just off camera

Behind the bulletin board.

The manager rewinds the tape to 4:45 a.m.,

Just before their suspect, brad holzer,

Says he dropped susan off in his silver pickup.

Johnson: it's extremely low resolution,

So the picture in the image is not very clear.

Narrator: seven minutes pass.

♪♪

Then headlights appear.

A vehicle pulls up opposite susan's apartment.

The lights go off.

♪♪



♪♪

Then a red light comes on.

It looks like the truck's interior dome light.

The headlights flash out of frame,

And the vehicle disappears for a moment.

Then it drives off,

Out of camera range.

Johnson: it's a pickup truck.

It looks a lot like brad's pickup.

We don't know, for sure, that it is,

But it looks a lot like it.

♪♪

Narrator: the footage is difficult to interpret.

Johnson: typically, we're looking for something

That shows a sign of a struggle or identifying somebody

Or we see the victim leaving with somebody.

We didn't see any of that.

Narrator: detectives now have what they believe

Is brad's truck on video.

Light: brad says that susan got out of the vehicle at 5:19,

But you can't see her get out of the vehicle.

Narrator: agent johnson takes a copy to the station

For a more detailed review.

♪♪

Meantime, police bring brad holzer in

For a videotaped interview...



Narrator: ...and grill him about his night out with susan

Knowing what the video shows,

And curious if brad's story will match.

They had driven out to a part of glendive,

Close to the river.

Brad said that they sat there for maybe 15, maybe 20 minutes.

He said that was the last time that he had ever seen her.

♪♪

What do you got?

Na the atm footage that detectives reviewed at the bank

Corroborate some of brad's story.

Light: we see a truck that matches the description

Of brad holzer's truck

Pull into a parking spot,

The exact parking spot where brad holzer indicated he parked.

It gave us enough to set our time line.

Narrator: but it's impossible to see

Whether susan gets out of the truck.

Light: all you can see is the dome light,

So we're making an assumption that,

In fact, she got out and walked across the street.

Still have a lot of unanswered questions.

Narrator: brad insists he went straight home,

Just three minutes's drive away,

And was asleep by 5:30 a.m.

♪♪

Police have no option but to call in brad holzer's wife, sam,

For questioning.

Johnson: so, now it's of the utmost importance

For us to see if, in fact,

She did see brad sleeping at 5:30, 6:00 a.m. That morning.

Narrator: sam holzer reveals some unexpected details

About their marriage.

It seems sam holzer slept at another man's house last night.

Brad and his wife had a very unique relationship,

Somewhat unusual.

They lived together.

They lived under the same roof,

But they were still somewhat estranged.

Narrator: brad now has an alibi.

Everything she told law enforcement

Was cooperative and supportive of what brad had said.

Narrator: but before they let brad go...

♪♪

...investigators call him back in for one final question.

♪♪

Brad told us that if anybody knew about susie's whereabouts,

It would be her soon-to-be ex-husband, ted casey.

He thought that ted had reason.

The breakup was not a good breakup

According to what he had heard from susan.

Narrator: police dig further into ted casey's past.

Officers learned that

Ted casey had been charged

With domestic violence against susan casey.

♪♪

Narrator: ted casey was meant to be looking after

His and susan's two daughters all night.

But cctv footage may reveal a different story.

Quite frankly, we're looking for ted's vehicle.

♪♪

Now he's a suspect.

♪♪

Narrator: 24 hours after mother of four susan casey vanished,

New boyfriend brad holzer has pointed the finger

At susan's soon-to-be ex-husband, ted casey,

And police have discovered that ted has a temper.

Police bring ted in for questioning.

According to susan's family,

Ted's behavior forced her to end the marriage.

She couldn't handle it any longer

'Cause he followed her wherever she went.

She just wanted out.

And she did -- she got out.

Narrator: detectives asked ted whether he knew

Susan was dating again.

So now ted is very suspicious,

Soon-to-be-ex-husband, history of violence,

Concerns they're in the relationship.

Narrator: so where was he on the morning susan disappeared?

Ted says he dropped the kids off at his brother's house

Before heading to work around 5:45.

♪♪

Johnson: so now it's getting complex and kind of crazy.

Here's a soon-to-be-ex-husband,

Somebody else who has potential motive to do harm

And he's driving right through the scene of the crime

At the time that we're concerned about,

Going to work.

Ted's got to be the guy.

There's just no doubt about it.

He's got to be the guy.

Narrator: and the cctv footage that police already have

In their possession might prove it.

♪♪

Detectives queue up the atm footage to 5:50 a.m.,

Just 31 minutes after they saw brad's truck pull away.

Now they are looking for ted's gray pickup.

♪♪

There's no obvious activity on the dark street.

A light reflects off the glass doors.

And at 5:52,

A vehicle approaches and drives through frame.

It doesn't reappear again.

The low-quality video makes the pickup appear red,

But detectives determine that it is, in fact, gray.

We see a vehicle that matches the description of ted's vehicle

Driving through frame,

Heading, basically, towards city hall.

It doesn't stop, which seemed to confirm

Ted's story, that he went directly to work.

Narrator: detectives follow up with city hall.

His co-worker for the city

Indicated he had got there shortly before 6:00.

Narrator: which means ted is off the hook...

For now.

But two men in susan's life at the crime scene

At similar times is more than strange.

♪♪

Meantime, susan's family is struggling to cope

With the lack of news.

[ Voice breaking ] it was all my parents could think about.

♪♪

They did not sleep.

They didn't take care of themselves.

It was rough on them.

♪♪

We had no idea where she could be,

Where she was...

Nothing.

It was the wait, wait, wait and never a phone call.

♪♪

Narrator: back at glendive police department,

Detectives are scouring the atm footage for more clues.

Light: it's about 40 steps

From brad's truck to susan's front door,

And she never made it to the front door.

That told us that somebody had to be there,

Waiting there to grab her within that short period of time.

Narrator: but so far,

There's nothing incriminating caught on camera.

♪♪

They continue to watch the footage from the moment

Brad's truck drives away...

...and notice something.



They spot a shadowy figure stride down the sidewalk.

It's a suspicious time to be out for a stroll.

Johnson: why are they out at 5:38 in the morning

Walking in that direction

At about the time that susie went missing?

One minute later,

Lights reflect off the bulletin board inside.

♪♪

A vehicle drives towards susan's apartment.

♪♪

♪♪

Eight minutes later,

Lights appear again.

At 5:47, the same vehicle drives back the way it came.

♪♪

Now we feel like we're making a connection

To somebody who's on foot, walking to a vehicle

Driving through the scene of the crime.

Narrator: this is the third suspect

To be caught on camera

Outside susan's apartment,

But the footage is too dark and pixilated

To i.d. The vehicle or the driver.

♪♪

To do this, the police need a clearer shot of the vehicle.

We started looking around at other sources of video.

♪♪

Narrator: and they don't have far to look.

♪♪

Just 30 yards down the street from the atm camera

Is the stockman bank,

And they have a camera.

This could be the answer to the entire case.

Simply, let's get the film.

Let's look at it.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: investigators have

Spotted a third suspect on camera,

Driving away from susan's apartment

On the morning she vanished.

Susan could be somewhere inside this vehicle.

Was she kidnapped? Was she taken?

And now they hope new cctv footage

From a bank one block away

Will identify the driver.

Detectives queue the video to 5:46,

Just before the mystery vehicle

Drove away from susan's apartment.

♪♪

Susan's apartment is off screen left,



♪♪

♪♪

At 5:47 a.m.,

A car speeds past.

♪♪

It's a silver minivan.

There were no other vehicles

That were on that surveillance video.

Narrator: they compare it to the mystery vehicle

Seen on the atm footage.

There's no doubt about it --

It's definitely their suspect.

Figuring out who is driving a silver minivan

Is our number-one priority.

Narrator: that's when susan's family call police

With a new lead that could crack the case wide open.

Susan's daughter has hacked into her mom's phone

After guessing her password.

Mariah plays the voicemails from 12:30 a.m.,

The night her mom went missing.

♪♪

It came from one person, from one man,

And it became more agitated, more upset, more frantic.

We're not talking, like, two or three messages.

We're talking 30 or so messages.

Narrator: and mariah recognizes the voice.

My father.

It's her biological father, marty larson.

Do you know what kind of car he drives?

Yeah.

A silver minivan.

The same vehicle seen on the stockman bank footage.

So now we've got to look at him as a suspect.

We have to look at where was he

At the time that she went missing?

Where is he now?

Narrator: susan's ex-husband, marty larson,

Lives three hours away, in billings, montana.

Police in billings call marty in for questioning.

And marty has a confession.

♪♪

Marty admits he was in glendive the night susan vanished.

Marty is the person caught on cctv.

Police want to know what he was doing there.

Yeah. Well, you're going out with...

He had last spoken to susan casey

On april 11th.

Call me when you're home, okay?

Narrator: he fell asleep,

But woke up a couple of hours later

And realized susan never called.

So, 3 1/2 hours is what it would take marty

To have driven from billings to glendive

In order to check on susie in the middle of the night.

Narrator: marty says he was outside susan's apartment

At around 5:15 a.m.

♪♪

Susan?

Susan, it's me again.

I was just at your door.

Narrator: he says he then drove back to billings,

Stopping for gas en route.

Rieger: so mr. Larson admitted that he made a 500-mile trip

In the matter of a couple hours in the middle of the night.

Okay.

Before ending the interview,

Detectives take note of what marty says

He was wearing that night.

The footprint of these shoes

Does not match those found outside susan's apartment.

There's no evidence to suggest that marty is guilty,

And detectives leave the room.

With nothing concrete to go on,

Detectives let marty go.

But now, with three men from susan's life at the scene

At the time of her disappearance,

Detectives need to verify the rest of marty's story,

So they race to a gas station an hour away

Where marty says he filled up that morning.

Johnson: we know he was there getting gas.

This could be vital information in our investigation.

Narrator: on the exterior wall,

They find just what they're looking for...

♪♪

...a cctv camera.

All the footage is stored on-site

And is available to send back to the station

For immediate review.

♪♪

Detectives queue up the footage

From the early hours of april 12th.

They watch from 6:45 a.m. --

The time they estimate marty arrived.

The camera looks directly out at the gas pumps.

Vehicles come and go.

And at 8:15 a.m., A silver vehicle pulls in.

It's marty's minivan.

He gets out and appears to fill up...

Before walking across the lot and into the store.

Switching to the interior camera,

Marty pays for his gas.

He leaves...

...goes back to his car...

...and drives away.

♪♪

It's all just like marty told the police,

But there's just one small problem

That will blow the lid off the case.

♪♪

Narrator: three suspects in the disappearance

Of missing mom susan casey

Have placed themselves at the scene

On the morning she vanished.

We had so many pieces to the puzzle

With the men in susie's life,

But none of them were fitting together properly.

Narrator: so far, video evidence corroborates

All of their stories.

Gas station footage shows ex-husband marty larson

Gassing up on his way back from susan's apartment.

Marty arrived at the gas station



Driving away from susan's apartment in glendive.

That drive should only take an hour.

Light: he left at 5:45,

But it's only 70 miles to miles city,

And he didn't show up till 8:15.

♪♪

Mr. Larson's story just did not add up.

♪♪

Narrator: police wonder what he was doing

During that missing hour and a half.

Perhaps his clothing will offer a clue.

♪♪

He had the white t-shirt on.

He had the jeans on.

But you can clearly see that

He was wearing black tennis shoes.

Narrator: marty had told police

He was wearing white new balance sneakers that morning.

Light: marty larson had not told the truth.

♪♪

So the question is, why is he lying?

Officers, get around back.

Narrator: the investigators get a search warrant

For marty's silver minivan.

♪♪

Johnson: it had been recently cleaned,

And on the inside of the vehicle,

You could see condensation on the windshield

On the window surfaces

As though the inside of the van

Had been pressure washed.

♪♪

The cargo area was just soaked with water,

And you could actually see scrub marks.

It took a great deal of time

To clean the inside of that vehicle.

♪♪

Narrator: nevertheless, in the back,

They find something that survived the pressure wash.

♪♪

Johnson: we found a single hair,

About 9 inches long, blonde in color.

Narrator: it's a match for susan casey.

♪♪

But without knowing where susan is,

There's not enough evidence for an arrest.

Light: there's no proof that she had been k*lled.

We didn't have a body.

♪♪

Narrator: on may 6th, 24 days after susan vanished,

There's a break in the case.

A person who worked for fish and wildlife

Was on the river,

On the yellowstone river,

And discovered a body

♪♪

[ Police siren wails ]

♪♪

Preliminary examination indicated that this was,

In fact, susan casey.

♪♪

Narrator: a broken hyoid bone

Indicates she was strangled to death.

♪♪

It's the news her family has been dreading.

The whole family fell apart.

There was a lot of crying and the kids were all crying,

And it was heartbreaking.

I mean, then they knew for sure that, yes, susie was gone.

[ Voice breaking ] it just breaks my heart.

♪♪

Narrator: susan casey's body was found 27 miles

From her apartment,

On the way to the gas station

Where marty filled up on the morning of april 12th.

♪♪

Detectives now have enough to arrest marty larson

For the m*rder of susan casey.

Detectives are finally able to piece together the cctv

From the morning susan was k*lled.

On april 11th, I think marty was keenly aware

That susan had a new man in her life,

Brad holzer.

♪♪

Narrator: he watched from a doorway off camera

While brad's truck pulled up.

♪♪

Brad drove away before susan made it inside.

That's when marty intercepted her.

♪♪

Why didn't you call me back, susan?

[ Chuckling ] oh, marty.

Marty!

What are you --

He grabbed her around the neck.

Get off of me!

♪♪

He strangled her...

♪♪

...dragged her into the alley...

♪♪

...and he only left after he had k*lled her.

Then he walked back across the atm.

Narrator: he got into his vehicle...

And returned to the crime scene.

♪♪

Light: he then pulled into the alley,

Put her in the back of the van and took off.

Narrator: susan's final journey is caught on camera.

The camera footage in solving this case

Was some of the most important evidence

That I have seen factor into a difficult case.

Narrator: in 2013,

Marty larson is found guilty of deliberate homicide

And sentenced to 100 years behind bars.

He was gonna get what he deserved

For k*lling susie.

♪♪

I just can't understand how someone can

Do something so heinous...

♪♪

...even to someone that they love.

Like, that just makes no sense to me.

[ Voice breaking ] he took...

He took a piece of each one of our hearts,

But he will never ever break this family up.

♪♪