06x06 - They Let Him Out

[bunniefuu]

It's important to me
to share my story

that I lived through
during that two-year period

that I was married to him.

The journey has been
very hard...


over half my life.

We are on the scene
of a tragic drama,

which unfolded
just a short time ago.

This monster who calls himself
Edward graf seemed to be caring.

Sometimes you can invite evil in
without knowing it.

I really wish that he would have
gotten the death penalty,

but instead,
he was going to be set free.

I testified in my first trial,
and I will testify again,

and all I can tell them is
that, you know, I didn't do it.

It's a lie, just like he lied
from the very beginning.

What he did is so evil.

Even if he died, even if
he got the death penalty,

I will never have complete
justice for what he did.

- -Captions by vitac...
- www.Vitac.Com

captions paid for by
discovery communications

in this box are all
the pictures that I have left.

This is my box of memories.

This picture was taken
when I was still single,

before I married ed.

It's a picture of
Joby, Jason, and me.

I was divorced for
about 4 1/2, 5 years,

working two jobs,
raising my little guys.

I was struggling at the time.

I taught school during the day,

and I worked from 5:00 till 9:00
at a jewelry store at the mall.

Sometimes ed would
come in and visit

with the other girls
that worked there.

I thought that he was this guy
that had it all together...

Good job at the bank,

and he was actively
involved in his church,

and he had a home and a boat.

He had a good reputation
in town.

He was like a pillar
of the community.

One day, I received
a call from ed,

and not knowing how he got
my phone number,

I was surprised.

Found out later that it
was through one of my friends.

He seemed very interested in me.

We went to eat
a couple of times,

so then I got to know him
a little bit better.

At least, I thought I did.

I told ed I was going to
move in with my dad

'cause I was having a hard time
making ends meet,

so one day, unannounced...

...there was a knock at my door.

When I opened the door,

I was very surprised to see
ed graf standing there.

Ed!
I wasn't expecting you.

He said he was just in the area,
and he stopped by.

I know that you said you were
packing up this weekend,

and I figured I'd
surprise you and stop by.

He offered to help me move.

It made me feel uneasy
that he knew my address.

Come on.

You look like you could use
another set of hands.

That's very sweet,
but you don't have to do that.

I felt like he was almost,
like, stalking me,

but at the same time,
a part of me

was a little bit relieved

that I was going to
have his help.

I'm sorry.
I didn't mean to impose.

No, I...
I could use the help.

I expressed to him
that all I wanted

was friendship out of this,

and I was not ready to get
into another relationship.

So, you could just put those
in this box.

Yeah.

Thanks.
I really appreciate it.

No, it's my pleasure.

But he continued to come around.

He was persistent.

Whenever he did some of
his deeds

to try to help me
and make my life easier,

it was always in a way
that drew a lot of attention.

Clare, hi.
Hi.

Come in. Have a seat. Thank you.

I went into my credit union
one day to check on my loan

that I was stuck with
from my ex-husband.

I was hoping to make
a payment today.

Let's see.

One of the loan officers told me
that this young man had been in

and that he had
paid off my loan.

Your loan has been
fully paid for.

I said, "well, who would
pay that loan?"

It looks here like it is
a Mr. Ed graf.

It was ed.

Ed.

Ed had been in and paid the loan
off, several thousand dollars.

I had mixed emotions.

I felt happy.

I felt special but
a little reluctant

to what was behind
all of this.

Ed and I were not in
a serious relationship.

Hey, Clare.

Ed?

Did you like
your surprise?

- You didn't have to do that.
- Yeah, I know I didn't have to.

When I thanked ed
for paying off the loan,

and I said,
"it's a lot of money.

That's quite a chunk," he acted
like it was just not a big deal.

"It was nothing. I was just
trying to help you."

It's too much.
I can't accept it.

Really,
don't worry about it.

I like to help when I can.

Thanks.

It was my pleasure.

When I told one of my
family members

that he had paid off my loan,
they said,

"this guy is somebody
that you need in your life.

If he asks you to marry him,
you'd be a fool not to."

I think the least I can do is
repay you with a cup of coffee.

Coffee would be wonderful.

As ed and I spent more time
together, he won me over,

and I was willing to give
the relationship a chance

because I thought in time that
maybe my feelings would grow.

As ed and I spent more
time together,

our relationship wasn't
the hot kind of romance,

but it was a good choice.

We didn't date all that long

before he started talking
about marriage.

I've been giving this
a lot of thought.

He presents me with this
gorgeous engagement ring.

The ring was much more
than I expected.

I was really taken back
because of the size of it.

He also paid for the
wedding dress and the honeymoon.

I know he had a good job
at the bank,

but I just wondered
how he could afford that,

but he assured me
that everything was okay.

He just seemed to have this life
that was so calm and laid out,

and I decided to accept his
proposal and just move forward.

We might not have had
that crazy, dynamic chemistry,

but I thought maybe
that it would grow in time.

I noticed ed started to change
after we were told

that we were pregnant.

Just started seeing
more controlling attitude.

One afternoon after school,

I stopped to do
a little shopping,

and then I went home,
and I probably arrived


than I normally do.

Ed?

What's wrong?

He was standing there tapping
his watch like, "you're late."

Hi, honey.

You know what time it is?

And he said, "you usually are
home 30 minutes before now.

Where have you been?"

He was keeping tabs on me,
and I said,

"I don't have to
get permission from you.

You're not my daddy."

I didn't realize I needed
your permission to stay out.

He just turned around
and walked in the house.

I felt like I was
being suffocated,

but I suppose I thought he was
just being super overprotective,

like very overprotective of me

because I was carrying
his child,

so I just kind of let it go.

Ed has his own idea
of how things should go,

and if you don't agree with it,

there's always some
kind of price to pay.

This is a good picture.

We always had birthday parties
somewhere special.

When I first introduced
ed to my sons,

he was good with them.

I felt like ed would be
a good stepfather.

I asked Joby and Jason
how they felt about ed.

Did they like him?

Would they like for him
to be their new stepdad?

And they both said yes.

They were very excited about it,
but when I married ed,

I started seeing
a change in him.

I feel like ed wanted Joby and
Jason to be nonexistent.

He wanted them to just
disappear into their room.

He wanted everything to be
just about his baby

and his new lifestyle,
but without my sons.

When I look back, I start seeing

all these different
little red flags.

Joby and Jason were very excited
about having a new baby,

wanting to be close
to their little brother...

Boys, come here!

...until one day
when ed was not there.

It was time to feed him
a bottle.

You guys want to help?

No.

No?

You were practically
begging me the other day.

And they were like, "no. No."

And they had this total
different change of attitude.

"So what's going on?
This is all you talked about,

was getting to be...
Handle the baby, hold the baby."

What's wrong?

Joby?

We don't want to hold him now.

And they looked down
instead of looking at me.

I said, "look at me in the eyes
and tell me why you have

this change of attitude,"
and I said, "is it ed?"

Did your stepfather
say something to you?

And then they said,
"if daddy finds out,

we're gonna get
a terrible spanking."

Honey.

Well, Ed's not here, and I say
that you canhold the baby.

Come here. Why don't you
help me feed him?

He's at work.

I don't care what
he said to you.

Who wants to go first?

I just let it roll off
my shoulders

because I thought he was
concerned about his baby,

and this is the part
that really haunts me.

I didn't realize that he was

driving a wedge
between me and my sons.

I was looking for ed,

and he wasn't in the bedroom,
wasn't in the rest of the house.

I opened the door.
He was in the garage.

And the light was off.

I noticed that he had
a hot dog in his hand,

and I asked him what was...
"what's the deal?"

Ed,
what are you doing?

Ed said cats were using
his flower beds

as a litter box, and he said,

"I'm gonna put strychnine
in a hot dog,

and then it'll
take care of them.

They'll never be
around here again."

That seems a little
extreme, ed.

And I said, "that's very cruel."

He just said,
"go on back in the house.

I'll be in in a few minutes."

I never saw that cat again.

And it made me
have a sick stomach

because if he could do that
to an animal,

what is he capable of?

If something gets in his way
and he doesn't like it,

he gets rid of it.

That is truly the story
of ed graf.

Joby and Jason were
swimming here.

They're having fun.

They just look free and happy.

The boys always loved the water,

from when they were
really little,

and one day,
ed took it a little too far.

So cute.

They're like
little fish.

One weekend, we were
just having fun in the pool,

and I noticed that there was
a lot of splashing going on.

I thought Jason was trying
to swim up to that...

The shallow end.

Then I realized that ed was
holding him under the water,

and he was just thrashing,
just trying to get up.

Ed, stop.

Stop it!

And I screamed at him and said,
"what are you doing?

Get... let him up!"

I could see Jason's head, and I
could see ed holding him down.

Jason, when he could get up
and get a breath,

he took a deep breath,
and he started crying.

He goes, "I couldn't breathe.
I couldn't get my..."

And he was very upset about it.

Are you okay, honey?

Are you sure?

You all right?

You promise?

I got very angry with ed, but he
just seemed to blow it off.

How could you
do that, ed?

We were just horsing around,
right, champ?

He said, "we were just playing."

I could tell our marriage
was really being threatened

by his behavior.

Never,
never do that again.

If you keep this up,
I swear...

"I can't continue to expose
Joby and Jason

to this kind of treatment,"
and then he said,

"if things don't work out
and we happen to split up,

you will never take
my son from me."

He didn't mention
Joby and Jason.

He just said, "you will never
take my son from me."

I felt like it was a threat
in so many words.

What am I gonna do?

I just wanted to keep the peace.
I didn't want to make waves.

I didn't want to have our
marriage already be on the rocks

and dragging my kids
in and out of a marriage.

Even my dad, when I went
to him and told him,

"these are some of the things
that are happening,"

he said,
"just be patient with him

and see if things
don't settle down."

Ed?

I did it for you.

The wounds from that
will never heal.

And I've learned
to live with it.

I've learned to go on.

But I will carry this pain
to my grave.

After work one day,
when I went into the house,

ed was there,

and he normally wasn't there
at that time of day.

Ed?

And I could tell he was...
Had been crying.

What's wrong?

I thought something happened
to someone in his family,

his parents or somebody had...

Was sick or something happened,
so I asked, "what's going on?"

I, um...
Was fired today.

He told me that he
had lost his job at the bank

for embezzlement.

I'm sorry.

How much?

$70,000.

$70,000?

Oh, my god.

And I ask him, "how long
has this been going on?"

And he said, "12 years."

As he was talking, the puzzle
pieces start fitting in.

This is how he is like
a bottomless money pit,

and that's the reason
I have this ring on my finger...

Because of him taking money
that didn't belong to him.

Ed said, "please stay.
I don't want you to go.

I'm just begging you to stay
and for us to work this out."

Please don't leave me.

Please. Please.

I felt like... that at that
moment, he was being sincere.

It's gonna be okay.

I'll make it up to you,
I swear.

The bank did not press charges.

He was going to meet with them

and see if they could make
restitution and pay it back.

He said that he was gonna
use his 401 to pay it back

and that his mother was
gonna help him

try to figure out how to come up
with the rest of the money.

"It's all taken care of.
Don't worry about it."

After ed was fired from
the bank, ed got a job

as a claims adjuster
for an insurance company.

He seemed very interested
in the fire and arson

that he was learning about.

One evening, we were
at my brother's house,

and my sister-in-law
mentioned that they were

interested in
getting new carpet.

It is old,
and it is ratty,

but we can't afford
to get a new one.

Well, what if you didn't
have to pay for it?

Ed volunteered information about
how they could get new carpet

if fire jumped out from
the fireplace and burned it,

that they could file
an insurance claim.

Ed said that fire
is hard to prove.

Sometimes it's hard to determine
if it was actually an accident.

You can't be serious.

You can go to jail
for something like that.

Clare, relax.

I just said that it's wrong.

That's like lying,
making a false claim.

That's like stealing again,
and he said,

"oh, don't worry about it.

You're way too serious
about this."

Cheers to the new rug. All right.

He just blew it off.

There we go.

Ed came to me with a pamphlet.

Clare, you got a sec?

Yeah.

I just wanted to
show you something.

Ed decided that it was
a good idea

to get some extra
life insurance on the boys.

Ed said that this is
life insurance,

but it kind of
has a dual purpose

because it's not only
a life-insurance policy,

we could cash it out and use it
for their college tuition.

Honestly, this is the best thing
we could do for them.

And I thought it was
a great idea

because at this point we were...

Didn't have the money to pay
for three college educations.

It'd be nice to give them
something to hold on to.

That's exactly
what I was thinking.

If he was gonna use his 401
to pay the bank back,

this would help us
a lot down the road.

What do you say?

Go for it.

I did not see the policies
come in the mail.

But I wasn't suspicious.

Ed was a claims adjuster.

I felt good about him relaying
the information to me.

I just thought, "okay,
it's all taken care of."

It just leaves you weak.

I felt like this wasn't really
happening, but it was.

It was reality.

On August 26, 1986...

Clare.

Yeah?

I was in my classroom,

and the principal
comes in to tell me that I...

He received a call
and that I needed to go home.

Something's happened.

He goes, "but they want me
to drive you home,"

and I ask him what was...

"what's the deal?
What's going on?"

He goes, "well, there's been
a fire at your house."

We got in his car,
and he drove me the back roads.

We said very few words.

He was super quiet.

Pulling up in the driveway,
I looked around,

and I saw the streets lined
with cars, emergency vehicles.

And kids along the sidewalks had
their hands over their mouths,

and some of them were crying.

And I knew that something
was wrong...

...severely wrong.

We are on the scene
of a tragic drama,

which unfolded
just a short time ago.

Just over this fence,
there is a storage shed.

Now, most of the details
are still sketchy,

but there my have been
an expl*si*n.

Ed was waiting in the garage.

I said, "where are the boys?"

Clare, stop.
What's happened?

Where's
Jason and Joby?

And he said, "well, we've lost
the boys," and I thought...

I mean, it didn't dawn on me

exactly what he was
trying to say.

In my mind, I was thinking,

"what, did they just
get scared and run off?

Maybe they're
hiding somewhere."

Well,
let's go find them.

No, Clare.

And I said, "where are they?"

And he said, "Clare,
Joby and Jason are dead."

I felt like somebody
cut me off at my knees,

reached down my throat,
pulled my heart out.

I remember pushing him
out of the way

and one of the volunteer firemen
came up to me,

and I sort of pleaded with him.

"I want to hold them.

I want to hold my babies
before you take them away.

I just have to," and he said,
so gentle and so kind,

that "I just have to
encourage you not to go

because they don't look
the same."

I told him I had hugged them

and kissed them goodbye
that morning,

and he said, "then that's
what you need to remember."

This is Jason.

Jason was the funny guy.

He was full of laughter,
and he was a little mischievous.

I guess he got that from my dad.

He really liked music,
so he would dance and have fun.

He just had this flare,
this extra jive about him.

That was his personality.

Joby's was more serious,

and he was very competitive
as far as athletics.

He really liked sports.

This picture is of Joby.

Of the two,
he was the protector.

He was the protector
of his brother.

And while they were so close in
age, they were always together.

I don't think they
remember a time

when the other one wasn't there.

Oh, this is my favorite. Yep.

This is one of my
favorite pictures,

taken a few months
before they died.

This was from my
sister's wedding.

They were junior groomsmen.

This picture looks exactly like
the last time I saw them.

Pictures are really
important to me

because they bring me back
to a place and time

with a happy heart.

The volunteer firemen said
that they found some things

that could be salvaged...
Their schoolwork, pictures.

This is some of the artwork

that the firemen salvaged
from the fire and gave to me.

Some of it is just singed
around the edges.

I said, "why were those
things out there?"

'Cause the last time I saw
them, they were under their bed,

and that was just
a few days ago.

They had to be placed
in the storage shed by ed

because Joby and Jason would
never put those books out there.

Anything that he could
get his hands on,

he put in the fire,
and this is what's left.

It was ruled accidental fire.

I was told that the boys might
have been in the building

playing with matches,
but none of this made sense.

Why would the boys go outside
to a storage building

on a hot summer day?

The next morning,
everything was gone.

No debris anywhere,
but there was a sprinkler going.

I said, "why is
the sprinkler out there?"

Do you have to run
the sprinklers?

And he said that he was
just gonna try to

get the grass growing again.

You don't want to
look out there

and be reminded
of what happened.

Who would do that?

Not a parent that has just lost
two children the night before.

Very odd behavior.

He said he was just
trying to help.

"It would be better for...
To clean all this up

so you wouldn't
have to look out the window

and see what's left
of the storage building."

But ed was not comforting.

He didn't hold me.

He didn't put his arms
around me and say,

"we're gonna get through this."

It was almost as if ed
was erasing Joby and Jason

from my life, from my memory.

He tried to.

I was trying to figure out
a plan to get away from ed,

but I noticed that ed
was following me around,

keeping very close tabs on me.

How was I gonna handle this?

Those couple of days there,

those were just
the darkest part of my life.

Ed and I went
to the funeral home,

and the funeral director
was giving me choices.

I just never thought I'd have
to make a decision like this.

I know it's difficult,

and if there's anything
we can do to help...

And ed said,
"well, you know what?

We could just put them
in the same casket,

and then we just
have to get one."

And, you know, I said,
"absolutely not."

How could you say
something like that?

No, I won't do that.

They were individuals,
individual children.

They need their
individual caskets.

Why don't I show you
some other options?

It just seemed to me
that he just doesn't have

that kind of connection

that a parent has
with the loss of a child.

It was sort of just
taking care of business.

He was already making a claim
on the insurance policies.

The boys couldn't have
done this to themselves.

I was very suspicious.

I noticed that ed
was following me around,

keeping very close tabs on me.

I wanted to talk
to my best friends.

I couldn't have private time
with any of them

to tell them my feelings inside,

how I felt like ed
was behind this.

So, how are you
holding up?

It's been a struggle.

Yeah.

To be honest, I'm...
I don't know.

We're doing about
as expected, you know.

He made sure
that he was right there

in almost every conversation

so I could not have any private
conversation with anyone.

Ed, I'm so sorry
for your loss.

Yeah.

Thank...
I appreciate it.

Please grab something to eat.
There's plenty of food.

All right?
Okay.

I don't remember
any kind of support

from him that day at all.

Ed was especially interested in

us going on with our life
in a normal way.

We're gonna get through
this together.

He seemed to have a pep
in his walk, almost cheerful.

He even grabbed my fingers,
just held them and said,

"I thought if Joby and Jason
were gone,

this would bring us
closer together."

I just let go of his hand,
and I said, "absolutely not."

Don't.

John, wait up.

So when my brother offered
for me to grab a few things

and go to his house
for a few days,

I just knew that this was
my chance to get away,

that I needed to do it now.

I knew the baby was safe because
he loved the baby so much.

I would take care of getting
the baby later, which I did.

Once I left that house,
I wasn't gonna go back.

Several people had already
been to the police.

That's how the investigation
started.

It was just... started out
small, and it just...

It grew.

One of the first steps
was to exhume the boys' bodies

and send them to Dallas

to have a very thorough,
detailed autopsy.

And the evidence showed that
they had been placed in there

when they were asleep.

They had smoke and soot
in their throat

but not enough if they're awake.

Most fire victims, if they can't
get out of a building,

they find them in the corner.

They find them huddled together.

And they were separated
from each other

but in a very relaxed position.

The evidence showed that
they made no attempt to get up.

I believe that they
were knocked out

before he placed them in there,
and then after the fire started,

all those toxic fumes
just put them to sleep forever.

The investigation continued.

Ed was free to come and go as
he pleased for almost 10 months.

Finally, ed was arrested
at his parents' house.

When I see this picture
of ed being arrested,

it gives me a little bit
of satisfaction.

When the jury delivered
their verdict,

ed was convicted
of capital m*rder,

and he was sentenced
to life in prison.

Although it didn't
bring back my boys,

Ed's conviction gave me peace.

And it just felt like

a huge load was lifted
off my shoulders

that he was gonna be
locked up for life.

Arson cases once considered

solved and closed are getting
a fresh look in Texas.

Ed graf has spent


for k*lling his two stepsons.

In 1988, prosecutors leaned
heavily on photos of

the shed's remains
analyzed by investigators,

but by today's standards
of fire science,

those investigators
may not have been right.

Your heart just drops
because I was told

ed would get a second trial.

It was gut-wrenching,
very gut-wrenching to know.

Here we are all these years
later, like 26 years later,

and it's...
He creeps back up again.

Well, I testified
in my first trial,

and I will testify again,
you know,

and all I can tell them is
that, you know, I didn't do it.

You know, I loved them,
and I treated them...

I tried to treat them
like my own.

It's a lie just like he lied

from the very beginning,
from day one.

The look on his face...
I've seen that look before,

and he is... there's not
a sincere bone in his body.

It's the good fighting the evil.
I wasn't gonna let him win.

That's what I've felt like
this whole time.

It was like, "okay, we go
to w*r again. Here we go."

After all these years
of his lying and denying,

ed decided to plead guilty to
murdering both Joby and Jason,

and I was... Shocked.

I wanted to hear him
speak the words,

so we accepted the plea.

He had to stand before the judge
in the courtroom

and admit his crimes,

and this is the part
of the judicial confession

that I heard that day.

"I, Edward e. Graf Jr.,

am pleading guilty
because I am guilty of m*rder."

I never expected to ever
hear those words.

I knew it all along,
and now everyone else does, too.

Our governor created this law
because the prisons were full,

and he could qualify
for mandatory release

if he admitted his crime.

Because of the loophole,
it was immediate release,

so it happened within weeks

after the end of
the trial in 2014.

For those 26 years,
we all had peace of mind

that he was not out
on the streets,

that he was behind bars
and he was locked up,

not to hurt anyone else,
and now he's out,

living in an apartment,
driving his car,

having the freedom
that you and I have.

What matters to me is that
he admitted his guilt,

finally, after all these years.

But it hurts me

that he was able to have
his freedom for what he did.

It's so evil.

I will never have complete
justice for what he did.

Even if he died, even if he
got the death penalty,

he's one person, and I lost two,

and those children
looked up to him

and depended on him
for their safety.

I'll never get over
the deaths of my children.

I will just carry this pain
to my grave.

You learn to live with it.

You have to go on.

You have to go on,
but you learn to live with it.

Otherwise, you would just be
a basket case somewhere.

You know, I just refuse
to let that happen.