Latest / NO FILTER / The murder of Eric Somuah [True Crime documentary]

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The murder of Eric Somuah [True Crime documentary] · NO FILTER

0:02
Speaker 1: It would be. It wouldn't be like this, it wouldn't
0:05
Speaker 1: be stupid.
0:06
Speaker 2: I Hi everyone, I'm Kevin and this is just thought
0:13
Speaker 2: Lounge JTL is the true crime channel that delivers a serious,
0:17
Speaker 2: well balanced coverage of the cases that really make you think.
0:20
Speaker 2: Today's case takes us to Silver Spring, Maryland, just outside
0:23
Speaker 2: of Washington, d C. In the spring of twenty twelve,
0:27
Speaker 2: thirty four year old Eric Samoa was living life to
0:30
Speaker 2: its fullest. He had a successful career, in active social life,
0:34
Speaker 2: and dreams for the future. This all came to an
0:37
Speaker 2: end when this man that everyone loved was found murdered
0:40
Speaker 2: inside his upscale apartment. The motive for the crime was
0:43
Speaker 2: baffling and evidence was unfortunately lacking. Investigators were left interviewing
0:49
Speaker 2: a sea of people, Eric's many neighbors, his close knit family,
0:53
Speaker 2: his many friends, and significantly, his many girlfriends. Thankfully, one
0:59
Speaker 2: neighbor would come forward and break the case wide open.
1:03
Speaker 2: This is the disturbing case of Eric Samoa. Let's take
1:06
Speaker 2: a look. Silver Spring, in Montgomery County, Maryland, is near
1:20
Speaker 2: to Washington, d C. It is considered the cultural and
1:23
Speaker 2: arts hub of the state. It is a majority white
1:26
Speaker 2: collar town with lovely parks, expensive real estate, and a
1:29
Speaker 2: vibrant night scene. It was an area that suited Eric
1:32
Speaker 2: Samoa very well. Eric lived alone at the Veridian Apartments,
1:36
Speaker 2: a building described as a luxury apartment complex. He was
1:40
Speaker 2: the top salesman at the Jaguar and land Rover dealership
1:43
Speaker 2: in nearby Bethesda. In addition, Eric was seeking to establish
1:47
Speaker 2: his own private at home health care service. Family friends
1:51
Speaker 2: described Eric as not only charming, but ambitious, hardworking, smart,
1:56
Speaker 2: and exceptionally friendly. Everyone who knew Eric really loved Eric.
2:03
Speaker 2: The fifth of June twenty twelve was a Tuesday at
2:07
Speaker 2: the Jaguar dealership. Eric's supervisor had come in that morning
2:10
Speaker 2: to find that for the second day in a row,
2:12
Speaker 2: Eric had not turned up for work, dismissing his absence
2:15
Speaker 2: on Monday as an unscheduled day off. He was now
2:18
Speaker 2: a bit concerned. Eric had not returned any calls or messages,
2:22
Speaker 2: and that was extremely odd. The dealership contacted his brother, Michael,
2:26
Speaker 2: who also began trying to reach Eric. Eric was known
2:31
Speaker 2: to be attached to his cell phone. He kept it
2:33
Speaker 2: with him, he checked it regularly, and he liked to
2:36
Speaker 2: stay in contact. That Tuesday morning, knowing that something was
2:40
Speaker 2: not right. Eric's two older sisters, Susie and Cynthia, drove
2:44
Speaker 2: out to Veridian apartments to check on their brother. When
2:49
Speaker 2: they gained entry to his unit, Susie and Cynthia found Eric.
2:54
Speaker 2: He was tucked away in his bed a sheep pulled
2:57
Speaker 2: over his whole body, nearly to his forehead. At first,
3:00
Speaker 2: it looked as though Eric was simply fast asleep, but
3:05
Speaker 2: this was unfortunately not the case. The cause of death
3:11
Speaker 2: was a single gunshot wound into the top of the head.
3:14
Speaker 2: His position in the bed led to immediate reactions that
3:17
Speaker 2: he could have died by suicide, an assumption suggested by
3:20
Speaker 2: law enforcement to his sisters that morning. There were a
3:23
Speaker 2: few reasons why suicide was unlikely, the most obvious of
3:26
Speaker 2: which was that there was no gun found on or
3:29
Speaker 2: near the bed or anywhere in the apartment. The placement
3:33
Speaker 2: of the shot also rendered this extremely unlikely. This was
3:36
Speaker 2: clearly a murder. Eric, the frequent cell phone user, had
3:42
Speaker 2: made his last recorded call on his phone that night
3:44
Speaker 2: at one thirty eight a m. He was alive until
3:47
Speaker 2: that late hour when the police made a thorough search
3:50
Speaker 2: of the apartment. However, no cell phone could be found.
3:54
Speaker 2: A shell casing was left visible on the bed. Eric
3:58
Speaker 2: had been shot with a three eighty hand which, just
4:01
Speaker 2: like his cell phone, had been taken from the apartment.
4:06
Speaker 2: The state of the apartment itself essentially eliminated the likelihood
4:10
Speaker 2: that there had been a burglary. Likewise, there were no
4:12
Speaker 2: indications of a struggle of any kind. When the police
4:16
Speaker 2: responded to the apartment. Everything was secured. The apartment door
4:19
Speaker 2: had not been kicked in or damaged in any way.
4:22
Speaker 2: There was no sign of violence anywhere Aside from the
4:25
Speaker 2: scene in the bedroom. There were valuables out in the open,
4:28
Speaker 2: including money, credit cards, and a laptop. There were also
4:32
Speaker 2: credit cards and some genes in the closet. All signs
4:36
Speaker 2: pointed to the murderer not being an intruder, but rather
4:39
Speaker 2: someone with access to the apartment. The motive was something
4:42
Speaker 2: other than larceny, but what could it possibly be. It
4:48
Speaker 2: was inconceivable to Eric's siblings that anyone would wish to
4:51
Speaker 2: harm the thirty four year old, their baby brother. The
4:55
Speaker 2: son of immigrants from Ghana, Eric had set his sights
4:58
Speaker 2: on a kind of American dream, career, success, a nice home,
5:02
Speaker 2: great friends, and a bright future. By many accounts, he
5:05
Speaker 2: was living this dream. Eric also had an active social life.
5:10
Speaker 2: His sisters may not have been privy to all the details,
5:13
Speaker 2: but Michael was. He was not just his older brother,
5:16
Speaker 2: but also Eric's best friend. Michael knew that Eric was
5:20
Speaker 2: a ladies man. He was a regular at a local bar,
5:22
Speaker 2: where employees reported that Eric was known to leave with
5:26
Speaker 2: a different woman more knights than not. The lead detective
5:31
Speaker 2: on Eric's case, Dmitri Ruven, first suspected that Eric's romantic
5:34
Speaker 2: entanglements would lead him to the killer. The scene suggested
5:39
Speaker 2: that the murder was committed by someone who knew him.
5:42
Speaker 2: It appeared calculated and personal. The Samoa family directed detective
5:49
Speaker 2: Reruven to a woman who had been romantically involved with
5:52
Speaker 2: Eric for some time. Her name was Denise Harrington, about
5:56
Speaker 2: twenty years Eric's senior. Denise was independent and successful. The
6:00
Speaker 2: two had reportedly met when she visited the Jaguar dealership
6:03
Speaker 2: looking for a new car. They hit it off immediately,
6:07
Speaker 2: but Denise was not well liked by the family, perhaps
6:10
Speaker 2: due to her age and lack of interest in building
6:12
Speaker 2: her own family. But she was the most consistent and
6:16
Speaker 2: committed romantic relationship that they knew of in Eric's life.
6:21
Speaker 2: Over a year after they met, their relationship was on
6:23
Speaker 2: the rocks. Denise told police that they were heading towards
6:26
Speaker 2: a breakup and that she had already told Eric that
6:29
Speaker 2: that is what she wanted. She had viewed at least
6:32
Speaker 2: one text message between her boyfriend and a woman named Ashley,
6:36
Speaker 2: which had prompted a fight and her decision to split,
6:39
Speaker 2: but she knew that Ashley was only one of many
6:41
Speaker 2: other women that Eric had been spending time with. There
6:44
Speaker 2: was someone named Tiffany as well, and there were the
6:47
Speaker 2: women he met out at the bar. Eric's act of
6:50
Speaker 2: dating life meant that there was a long list of
6:53
Speaker 2: witnesses or even potential suspects to sort through. The working
6:58
Speaker 2: theory was that the murder was motivated by jealousy and
7:02
Speaker 2: committed by someone close to Eric. It was not surprising
7:05
Speaker 2: that investigators first looked at Denise, the deceived older flame.
7:09
Speaker 2: She had a key to Eric's apartment in the tour
7:12
Speaker 2: in the midst of a breakup, but what appeared to
7:14
Speaker 2: be a promising lead dissolved when her alibi checked out.
7:18
Speaker 2: Detective Reuben interviewed Denise three times, and each time she
7:22
Speaker 2: cooperated fully. She also offered full access to her cell phone.
7:26
Speaker 2: These records placed Denise at home at the time of
7:29
Speaker 2: the murder. There was nothing linking her to the crime.
7:32
Speaker 2: So if not the obvious suspect, the scorned lover who
7:36
Speaker 2: in Eric's life could have been motivated to kill him,
7:42
Speaker 2: a potential break came from a neighbor of Erics from
7:44
Speaker 2: the Rudian Complex. Katrina Ben had moved into the building
7:48
Speaker 2: only a few months earlier. She was a traveling nurse
7:51
Speaker 2: originally from Mississippi, who relocated frequently for work. She was
7:55
Speaker 2: exactly the type of professional that might benefit from Eric's
7:59
Speaker 2: concept for his prime healthcare business. As detectives canvass the building,
8:03
Speaker 2: they learned that Katrina and Eric had in fact bonded
8:06
Speaker 2: over more than business. The two had become an item
8:09
Speaker 2: over the preceding few weeks, spending more and more time together.
8:19
Speaker 2: Investigators had the unfortunate task of breaking the news to
8:22
Speaker 2: Katrina that Eric had been murdered.
8:26
Speaker 3: I'm sure starting again by saying you just thank you,
8:28
Speaker 3: you don't have to be here, thank you, thank you,
8:30
Speaker 3: thank you for doing this.
8:33
Speaker 4: So yes, and how'd you meet r I met Eric
8:39
Speaker 4: outside like two weeks after I've been there, and he
8:42
Speaker 4: asked me if I was a nurse, because he was starting.
8:46
Speaker 5: Some kind of agency nurse, an agency kind of like
8:48
Speaker 5: what I worked for.
8:49
Speaker 2: The two had connected through a love of basketball. They
8:52
Speaker 2: had gotten together to watch games every Monday night, and
8:55
Speaker 2: as the weeks went by, the nights that they spent
8:57
Speaker 2: together increased. In the days of eating to Eric's death,
9:01
Speaker 2: they had spent a significant amount of time together, first
9:04
Speaker 2: on the Thursday night, then again on Sunday, and again
9:07
Speaker 2: on Monday, though notably not on either Friday or Saturday.
9:11
Speaker 2: It was logical for Katrina to be confused by Eric's
9:14
Speaker 2: lack of communication after she left his apartment in the
9:17
Speaker 2: early morning hours on Tuesday, the day he died.
9:22
Speaker 5: Onda only, am I the last person?
9:26
Speaker 1: Can you tell me that?
9:27
Speaker 4: I mean, I don't know if.
9:28
Speaker 5: He stopped calling me or he was an answering because
9:31
Speaker 5: he was dead. Because I've been depressed and suffering and
9:34
Speaker 5: mad and crying because I'm thinking he's not talking to me.
9:37
Speaker 5: We've been like this just to settle my heart, you know, settled.
9:44
Speaker 2: It was possible that Katrina was the last person to
9:46
Speaker 2: see Eric alive, but there were questions surrounding who else
9:49
Speaker 2: may have been present that night and what exactly went down.
9:53
Speaker 2: Katrina explained that Eric had suggested they take a drive
9:56
Speaker 2: to meet with a man he knew, ostensibly a drug
9:58
Speaker 2: dealer named William wood Fork. She said they drove out
10:02
Speaker 2: to meet this man, who then promptly jumped into the
10:04
Speaker 2: back of Eric's car with them. The exchange made her
10:07
Speaker 2: very uncomfortable.
10:08
Speaker 5: And then I got out. All this happened before the
10:11
Speaker 5: light could even go out in the car, because I'm thinking,
10:13
Speaker 5: you're going to do something like this, turn the light out,
10:14
Speaker 5: somebody might see me.
10:15
Speaker 1: You're not.
10:16
Speaker 5: We're getting I hate John, don't want to be identified,
10:18
Speaker 5: and something like this bald and he had a he's
10:20
Speaker 5: about my color, skinny guy, scruffy beard. I didn't see
10:25
Speaker 5: his face straight on. I wasn't trying to look at
10:27
Speaker 5: him directly. I'm not trying to look like I want
10:29
Speaker 5: to know who you are.
10:32
Speaker 2: The encounter with William wood Fork in the car was
10:34
Speaker 2: not the last time that Katrina saw the man. That night,
10:38
Speaker 2: she rose at about five am, a bit earlier than
10:40
Speaker 2: usual because she needed to get gas on her way
10:43
Speaker 2: into work. When she left, William was in the living
10:46
Speaker 2: room of Eric's apartment, seated on the couch. Eric remained
10:50
Speaker 2: fast asleep in the bedroom. She offered no explanation as
10:54
Speaker 2: to why William had turned up at Eric's home in
10:56
Speaker 2: the middle of the night, though she stated that she
10:59
Speaker 2: had woken up one point to see them through the
11:01
Speaker 2: door that sat slightly ajar speaking in muffled tones in
11:05
Speaker 2: the living room.
11:07
Speaker 5: It didn't make sense to me because I was thinking,
11:09
Speaker 5: why is he here? It was just a little uncomfortable.
11:12
Speaker 1: He's just seeing them.
11:12
Speaker 5: A weird.
11:15
Speaker 2: William Woodfork denied to investigators that he knew a man
11:18
Speaker 2: named Eric Samoa. He also insisted that even if he
11:21
Speaker 2: did do business with Eric, that there's no way that
11:23
Speaker 2: he would know his home address. However, call logs from
11:26
Speaker 2: Eric's cell phone provider confirmed that he knew William. He
11:30
Speaker 2: had in fact called him on the night of his death,
11:33
Speaker 2: just as Katrina had reported. William was clearly lying to police.
11:37
Speaker 2: When a search warrant was obtained for his residence, detectives
11:41
Speaker 2: discovered a small safe, inside of which they found a handgun,
11:44
Speaker 2: a three eighty, the same kind used to kill Eric.
11:49
Speaker 2: William's three to eighty was promptly tested. Despite what was
11:52
Speaker 2: looking like a mounting case against the weird man, the
11:55
Speaker 2: results came back negative. It was not the gun used
11:58
Speaker 2: in the murder. Over his alibi was solid, detectives put
12:03
Speaker 2: him far away from the Bridian apartment complex in Silver
12:05
Speaker 2: Spring that night. There also appeared to be no discernible motive.
12:10
Speaker 2: Katrina Ben, it would seem, was the one who was
12:13
Speaker 2: lying and purposefully misleading the investigation. Detectives pulled the surveillance
12:20
Speaker 2: footage from the Viridian lobby and other entrance and exits,
12:23
Speaker 2: and they found her timeline did not exactly line up either.
12:27
Speaker 2: Katrina was captured leaving the garage at approximately six thirty
12:31
Speaker 2: four am Tuesday morning. She was then shown returning at
12:34
Speaker 2: seven oh five am. When she returned, she parked in
12:37
Speaker 2: front of the building, got out and walked through the lobby,
12:40
Speaker 2: and then returned to her car. Five minutes later. She
12:43
Speaker 2: explained that she had forgotten her cell phone in Eric's apartment.
12:47
Speaker 2: This meant that she was at the scene of the
12:48
Speaker 2: murder close to two hours after she claimed that she
12:51
Speaker 2: had awoken and left. If she was not the killer,
12:55
Speaker 2: she must have encountered them within moments of being inside
12:58
Speaker 2: the apartment. Two weeks after the murder, detectives had turned
13:03
Speaker 2: their attention squarely to the grieving girlfriend, who spoke glowingly
13:07
Speaker 2: about Eric when she first learned of his tragic death.
13:10
Speaker 2: But was she truly expressing shock and distress at this
13:13
Speaker 2: horrific news?
13:15
Speaker 1: What I got it? You ask me if I saw
13:19
Speaker 1: the police?
13:20
Speaker 5: What can y'all just please tell me what happened?
13:22
Speaker 1: Well, like I said, I I think I told you
13:24
Speaker 1: that he was murdered.
13:26
Speaker 5: All of this is like me messaging him.
13:30
Speaker 4: That's that's fine.
13:33
Speaker 5: I'm thinking he's just ignoring me, so you can take
13:35
Speaker 5: it all.
13:36
Speaker 4: Oh no, I went, let's see him again.
13:37
Speaker 2: I want to woke him up.
13:41
Speaker 1: We can't really tell you what's on with the investigation,
13:46
Speaker 1: and the reason is because you're a witness. Oh my god.
13:51
Speaker 6: Well I think we can tell her where it happened.
13:54
Speaker 5: He was killing.
13:57
Speaker 1: Hmm guy, so many goals and some many dreams.
14:03
Speaker 4: It's just crazy.
14:04
Speaker 1: It's like he was having a bed time in his life.
14:07
Speaker 1: Now he's.
14:10
Speaker 2: Police seized her computer and trashed the usage of her
14:12
Speaker 2: Facebook account in the period after Eric's death, and before
14:16
Speaker 2: speaking with the police, They found that she had visited
14:19
Speaker 2: Eric's Facebook page during this time, through which she would
14:22
Speaker 2: certainly have learned that he was dead. When approached by
14:25
Speaker 2: officers at her building four days later, however, and was
14:28
Speaker 2: asked to speak to them about Eric. She responded Eric,
14:32
Speaker 2: who only then did she add why what happened? Katrina
14:38
Speaker 2: had relocated to Baltimore. Her apartment was searched thoroughly and
14:41
Speaker 2: no gun was found. She had never registered a handgun
14:44
Speaker 2: in her name, and she even denied having ever fired one.
14:48
Speaker 2: Detective Reuben was certain that he had narrowed in on
14:51
Speaker 2: the likely killer, but the only evidence he had was circumstantial.
14:55
Speaker 2: They had searched her home and found no weapon or
14:57
Speaker 2: any other physical evidence linking her to the crime, like
15:00
Speaker 2: Eric's missing cell phone. The case went cold. Katrina Ben
15:06
Speaker 2: moved back to her native Mississippi, and the investigation stalled
15:09
Speaker 2: out for nearly a year. During this time, Detective Reuben
15:14
Speaker 2: began to systematically test every three to eighty handgun in
15:17
Speaker 2: the possession of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Agency the
15:21
Speaker 2: ATF recovered in Montgomery County since the date of Eric's death.
15:25
Speaker 2: They had tested fifty seven different handguns by the time
15:28
Speaker 2: they reached one that had been registered to a person
15:31
Speaker 2: in a Mississippi town. The registration was within ten miles
15:34
Speaker 2: of Katrina Ben's hometown. This one raised red flags to investigators.
15:39
Speaker 2: Two days after the murder, this gun had been spotted
15:41
Speaker 2: by a shoemaker from Montana who was on vacation when
15:44
Speaker 2: he found himself essentially parked in gridlocked traffic on the
15:47
Speaker 2: Capitol Beltway, an interstate highway that circles Washington, d C.
15:52
Speaker 2: The weapon was visible on the roadway. It had likely
15:55
Speaker 2: been run over at least once. The gun was broken
15:58
Speaker 2: and consisted only of its lower According to case documentation,
16:03
Speaker 2: the key component the barrel was missing. Regardless it was
16:07
Speaker 2: fitted with the necessary replacement parts and test fired. When
16:11
Speaker 2: it was compared with the bullet that killed Eric, this
16:13
Speaker 2: three eighty could not be eliminated or excluded as the
16:17
Speaker 2: source of the bullet. The spot where the gun was
16:21
Speaker 2: found on the side of the beltway was within two
16:23
Speaker 2: to three miles of Ridian apartments. Detective Reuben estimated that
16:27
Speaker 2: the round trip driving time from the apartment to the
16:29
Speaker 2: gun's location would have been thirty to forty minutes. The
16:33
Speaker 2: surveillance tapes at the Verridian showed that Katrina had left
16:36
Speaker 2: at six thirty four am and returned thirty one minutes later.
16:41
Speaker 2: Through the serial number. The gun was traced through five
16:44
Speaker 2: previous owners in Mississippi to a pawnshop only a few
16:47
Speaker 2: miles away from Katrina's home. There, the shop had recorded
16:52
Speaker 2: a sales receipt later turned over to the ATF that
16:55
Speaker 2: confirmed to whom the gun had been sold, none other
16:58
Speaker 2: than Trina Ben.
17:02
Speaker 1: If you haven't like to it would be it wouldn't
17:06
Speaker 1: be like this, It wouldn't be stupid.
17:12
Speaker 2: When Katrina was pulled back in for questioning the second time,
17:15
Speaker 2: the tone had shifted on both sides.
17:19
Speaker 7: So you.
17:22
Speaker 3: Okay?
17:25
Speaker 2: She now claimed that she had owned a gun and
17:27
Speaker 2: that she had never lied to investigators on this point.
17:31
Speaker 1: Do all the fire?
17:33
Speaker 6: Yeah?
17:34
Speaker 1: Okay? What kind of fire are you there? Why didn't
17:37
Speaker 1: you tell that last?
17:39
Speaker 6: Because you never act if I didn't kill anyone, So
17:42
Speaker 6: it's no need for me to pay. I have a gun,
17:45
Speaker 6: I mean, you never act, you act me. Have you
17:48
Speaker 6: ever hailed a gun? Have you ever fired a day?
17:52
Speaker 2: Katrina was unaware, however, that during the conversation in her
17:56
Speaker 2: Baltimore apartment, Detective Reuben had been secretly recording the exchange.
18:03
Speaker 5: Have you fired a gun?
18:06
Speaker 2: There was evidence from Katrina's own statements and text message
18:09
Speaker 2: exchanges that Eric's many open relationships with other women was
18:13
Speaker 2: a source of jealousy and anger.
18:16
Speaker 7: Eric was a great guy, but I love not even
18:19
Speaker 7: trying to can be with Eric like that, and when
18:22
Speaker 7: he would kill me he was in love with me.
18:23
Speaker 1: I never believe him.
18:25
Speaker 2: She acknowledged that she and Eric had talked about their
18:28
Speaker 2: future together. She also admitted that she became angry, vindictive,
18:32
Speaker 2: and possessive whenever he turned her down for a date
18:35
Speaker 2: or failed to show up after having agreed plans. When
18:38
Speaker 2: Eric did not show up on time to watch a
18:40
Speaker 2: basketball game with her on Thursday May thirty, first, five
18:43
Speaker 2: days before his murder, Katrina said she was pissed that night.
18:47
Speaker 2: They exchanged angry texts. Although they ultimately spent the night together.
18:52
Speaker 2: On Sunday, Katrina forbade him to go to a party
18:55
Speaker 2: because she had plans for them together on the last
18:58
Speaker 2: night of his life. Eric did not return home in
19:00
Speaker 2: time for the two of them to watch a game
19:02
Speaker 2: together as they had scheduled. When he did return, he
19:05
Speaker 2: paid little attention to her.
19:09
Speaker 6: You shouldn't you're.
19:10
Speaker 1: Being faced with a murder charge of your boyfriend. Boyfriend,
19:16
Speaker 1: I was one of three girlfriends he's not my boyfriend
19:19
Speaker 1: to your gun. Okay, it was used to try. Okay,
19:23
Speaker 1: well the boys and you a gun that they have
19:26
Speaker 1: for a murder. Why would he be murdered with my gun?
19:29
Speaker 7: It doesn't make sense, Like you guys haven tell lives
19:32
Speaker 7: different people that you questioned about me.
19:36
Speaker 1: Like, so if someone had my gun, then it was stolen.
19:39
Speaker 1: I mean, like, but when would they fill my gun?
19:41
Speaker 1: The only person that's been in my apartment if the
19:43
Speaker 1: area home buy. That looks it doesn't make sense to me.
19:48
Speaker 8: You were going to have, you know, your day in
19:49
Speaker 8: court and tell the same story and all that.
19:51
Speaker 1: Do you understand that that story is not believable. I understand.
19:54
Speaker 1: And if I was, you know, a detective, it would
19:57
Speaker 1: look the same way to me.
19:58
Speaker 6: I have no I have no idea.
20:01
Speaker 1: I have no idea. I would rather sit here and say, oh,
20:04
Speaker 1: you think I did it? Well, he I don't know,
20:07
Speaker 1: stole for me or fill my father or something. Eric
20:10
Speaker 1: didn't nothing, He did nothing. I can't even make anything
20:15
Speaker 1: of Eric didn't.
20:17
Speaker 2: Detectives were not convinced. Katrina was arrested and charged with
20:22
Speaker 2: the murder.
20:23
Speaker 1: You have right now that any time.
20:27
Speaker 2: Katrina entered a plea of not guilty and forced the
20:30
Speaker 2: case to trial. The evidence against her was still largely circumstantial.
20:35
Speaker 2: The match on the gun was consistent, but it was
20:37
Speaker 2: not conclusive. Katrina's defense argued that many handguns could have
20:41
Speaker 2: been a match. Furthermore, they argued that Katrina had long
20:45
Speaker 2: since lost track of the weapon, having had no use
20:47
Speaker 2: for it, so it was entirely possible that Eric himself
20:51
Speaker 2: had retrieved it from her home at some point and
20:53
Speaker 2: kept it in his apartment. Someone the real murderer, then
20:57
Speaker 2: found it there and used it to kill him. Then
21:00
Speaker 2: there was the motive. Was it reasonable to believe that
21:03
Speaker 2: a woman whom Eric had been seeing for only a
21:05
Speaker 2: few short weeks could summon the jealousy and anger necessary
21:10
Speaker 2: to commit such a horrible crime. The prosecution said yes.
21:14
Speaker 2: They argued that Katrina, a woman who bragged to police
21:17
Speaker 2: that she had never been dumped, discovered that Eric was
21:20
Speaker 2: treating her as what they dubbed the Monday night girl.
21:24
Speaker 2: They argued that Katrina resented that Eric was out with
21:26
Speaker 2: other women on high profile nights like Fridays and Saturdays.
21:31
Speaker 8: She felt that the relationship was more significant to the
21:34
Speaker 8: victim than she believed it to be. And when she
21:36
Speaker 8: found out that she was not exclusively with him, she murdered.
21:41
Speaker 8: She thought she got away with her, she thought she
21:43
Speaker 8: got rid of the gun.
21:44
Speaker 1: And again.
21:44
Speaker 8: But the good sumart, it finds the gun, and we
21:46
Speaker 8: have great detective work by Detective Reuben.
21:49
Speaker 1: And the mystery is solved.
21:51
Speaker 2: In October twenty twelve, Katrina Benn was convicted of first
21:55
Speaker 2: degree murder, as well as a lesser charge for the
21:57
Speaker 2: use of a firearm and the commission of a cry.
22:01
Speaker 2: She was sentenced to life in prison plus twenty years,
22:04
Speaker 2: ensuring that she will never be released. Montgomery County Circuit
22:08
Speaker 2: Court Judge David Boynton said from the bench, it was
22:11
Speaker 2: so cold, so calculated, so devious from an intelligent and
22:15
Speaker 2: bright woman. There's nothing that our system could ever do
22:19
Speaker 2: to rehabilitate her. She's that sociopathic and detached from human life.
22:24
Speaker 8: The grudging girlfriend then stood up and told Samoa's family,
22:27
Speaker 8: I am deeply moved by each of your impact statements,
22:30
Speaker 8: and I'm very sorry for your loss.
22:32
Speaker 3: Can't bring my brother back, but this will be a
22:35
Speaker 3: closure for our family that she will be spending the
22:38
Speaker 3: rest of her time in prison without parole, plus another twenty.
22:48
Speaker 2: That was the disturbing case of Eric Samoa and the
22:51
Speaker 2: case against Katrina Ben. Thanks for watching. I'm Kevin. This
22:55
Speaker 2: is just thought lounge and I'll see in the next one.