Latest / The Mind of a Man / Man Records Videos of Girlfriend Minutes Before Her Murder_ The Murder of Crystal Williams

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Man Records Videos of Girlfriend Minutes Before Her Murder_ The Murder of Crystal Williams · The Mind of a Man

0:01
Speaker 1: On a spring afternoon in Odessa, Texas, police responded to
0:05
Speaker 1: a welfare check at the Fodry Ranch apartment complex.
0:10
Speaker 2: There, they made a shocking discovery. What followed was a
0:13
Speaker 2: rapid investigation.
0:16
Speaker 3: The unveiling of multiple suspects, the victims' sordid.
0:18
Speaker 1: Past and two very suspicious cell phone videos.
0:36
Speaker 4: Smile for the camera.
0:39
Speaker 1: The single thread running through the investigation was an unwavering
0:43
Speaker 1: focus on one individual.
0:44
Speaker 3: You're not in.
0:46
Speaker 5: Trouble, old man.
0:47
Speaker 3: They just want to talk to you a little bit
0:49
Speaker 3: more at the police department. Is that okay?
0:51
Speaker 1: When all was said and done, however, the case did
0:54
Speaker 1: not conclude in the way anyone was expecting.
0:57
Speaker 6: But it'd be very strange if Larry killed her.
1:01
Speaker 3: For him to come over here and talk to us
1:05
Speaker 3: the way that you did.
1:06
Speaker 6: You know what I'm saying?
1:11
Speaker 1: Hi there. I'm Kevin and welcome to Just Thought Lounge.
1:15
Speaker 1: Today's case takes us step by step through the first
1:18
Speaker 1: hours and days of a missing person turned homicide investigation.
1:23
Speaker 1: We learn the key facts of the case as the
1:25
Speaker 1: investigators did through their discoveries, interviews, and collecting evidence. I'm
1:31
Speaker 1: certain there will be some dissenting opinions about this case,
1:35
Speaker 1: and many will be shocked by the outcome. Let's take
1:39
Speaker 1: a look. Odessa is a major city in West Texas,
1:55
Speaker 1: in the southwestern section of the Great Plains. Living in
1:58
Speaker 1: Odessa offers a Hold on a minute. What is that notification?
2:03
Speaker 1: This is so strange. Last month, I received a similar
2:07
Speaker 1: text to my phone, prompting me to follow a link
2:09
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2:13
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2:16
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2:19
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2:22
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2:25
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2:28
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2:31
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2:33
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2:37
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2:42
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2:46
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2:50
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2:53
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2:58
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3:02
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3:06
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3:13
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3:33
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3:37
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Speaker 1: our personal information safe and for sponsoring this video. A
3:59
Speaker 1: call to emergency services in Odessa, Texas was placed at 11.51 a.m.
4:04
Speaker 1: on Thursday, April 27th. The caller, Shalora Rexroth, was requesting
4:09
Speaker 1: a welfare check on her best friend, 36-year-old Crystal Williams.
4:14
Speaker 1: Crystal had been unreachable for roughly two days.
4:17
Speaker 7: Six minutes following the first call, with officers already en route,
4:21
Speaker 7: Shalora dialed 911 again.
4:41
Speaker 1: She had arrived at Crystal's home at the Faudry Ranch
4:44
Speaker 1: apartment complex, and something was not right.
4:48
Speaker 7: Can I please have an officer here, like, right now?
4:50
Speaker 7: Because my best friend, I just called someone, and they're not,
4:57
Speaker 7: she hasn't been answering me in two days. And I'm
5:00
Speaker 7: at her apartment, and I'm scared to go in because
5:03
Speaker 7: I don't want to see something. I don't want to
5:04
Speaker 7: see if there is something in there, but her apartment
5:07
Speaker 7: door is unlocked, and her car is here, and I
5:10
Speaker 7: just don't want to go in. I just want somebody
5:12
Speaker 7: to come and make sure she's okay.
5:15
Speaker 1: Officers from the Odessa PD responding to both calls arrived simultaneously.
5:20
Speaker 1: They found Shalora in the parking lot.
5:22
Speaker 2: I went to her job, and I asked them have
5:25
Speaker 2: they heard from her, and they said no.
5:28
Speaker 4: And I said, well, did she try to call you
5:30
Speaker 4: or anything? Because it's not like her not to.
5:32
Speaker 8: Go to work.
5:33
Speaker 4: Did she talk?
5:34
Speaker 7: She went to the car wash.
5:36
Speaker 4: She's the manager there. So I asked them if they.
5:41
Speaker 7: Spoke to her, and they're like, no, we haven't spoke
5:43
Speaker 7: to her.
5:43
Speaker 4: In two days.
5:44
Speaker 9: I was like.
5:44
Speaker 5: Well, this isn't like her.
5:45
Speaker 10: I'm about to go find her.
5:47
Speaker 9: So then I came here, and I knocked on the door,
5:51
Speaker 9: and nobody answered. So I opened the door, like, trying
5:53
Speaker 9: to see if it was open, and I just stayed
5:55
Speaker 9: at the front door because... I want to see something
5:58
Speaker 9: I don't want to see.
5:58
Speaker 11: Sure, absolutely.
6:00
Speaker 1: Shalora had first visited her friend's place of work, Crazy
6:04
Speaker 1: Clean Car Wash, where she was a location manager. There,
6:07
Speaker 1: she had learned that Crystal had clocked out just past 2.30pm
6:11
Speaker 1: on Tuesday afternoon, two days prior. Crystal was a dedicated
6:17
Speaker 1: and reliable manager. She rarely even took sick days. Her
6:21
Speaker 1: absence from work without notice was extremely out of character.
6:25
Speaker 1: Her friend had also contacted Crystal's boyfriend, a man named Larry.
6:30
Speaker 1: Larry messaged back just as officers arrived on scene, stating
6:34
Speaker 1: that he had no idea about Crystal's whereabouts.
6:38
Speaker 2: Do you know if there's any violence between them two?
6:54
Speaker 2: I don't think so, but I mean, I don't put
6:57
Speaker 2: nothing past anybody. And I know she used to be
7:02
Speaker 2: dating a guy named Andy, and I know that he
7:05
Speaker 2: was trying to come back and stuff, so I don't know.
7:07
Speaker 4: I just hope she's okay.
7:12
Speaker 1: Officers Potter and Vallejo made their way to Crystal's apartment.
7:17
Speaker 3: Police Department! Crystal, it's Odessa Police Department. Are you inside?
7:28
Speaker 12: Are you okay?
7:29
Speaker 3: Police Department. We're coming in. Crystal, it's Odessa Police Department. Crystal,
7:38
Speaker 3: Police Department.
8:06
Speaker 1: Crystal Williams was found inside. She was lying on her
8:10
Speaker 1: stomach on the bathroom floor, her head between the doorframe
8:13
Speaker 1: of the closet and the bathroom. Her legs stretched out
8:17
Speaker 1: in front of the toilet as though she could have
8:19
Speaker 1: been seated there before falling forward. There was dried blood.
8:23
Speaker 1: Crystal was undeniably already deceased. Determinations would later be made
8:29
Speaker 1: that she could have been deceased for roughly 36 hours
8:32
Speaker 1: before her discovery. a bullet casing was spotted next to her.
8:37
Speaker 1: A gouge in the right side of the door frame
8:39
Speaker 1: left by a discharged bullet.
8:42
Speaker 3: I can't see her right hand left hand. I wasn't
8:44
Speaker 3: going to touch her. Okay, we got a bullet right here, Sarge.
8:47
Speaker 8: Oh, no.
8:47
Speaker 3: About the bullet casing right there. I can't tell if
8:49
Speaker 3: there's a gun under her or not.
8:51
Speaker 13: Hang on.
8:52
Speaker 4: Where it could be.
8:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, just be careful where you step. It could be
8:57
Speaker 3: under her. It could be.
9:00
Speaker 4: Or it could be his office.
9:00
Speaker 3: Do you see anything, like, right underneath? I'm looking.
9:06
Speaker 3: Not wishing to disturb the scene, officers stepped away from
9:12
Speaker 3: Crystal without moving her. Whether there was a weapon.
9:14
Speaker 11: Beneath her was undetermined, but there was not a firearm
9:17
Speaker 11: visible to them anywhere else in the apartment. It's a
9:41
Speaker 11: cigarette right here. Hey, let's ask her if she smoked.
9:45
Speaker 11: Because I don't see any remnants of hashtrays. Yeah, it's
9:56
Speaker 11: definitely going to be a gunshot, but I don't know
9:59
Speaker 11: if she.
9:59
Speaker 3: Could have been sitting on that toilet and done it herself. Obviously,
10:01
Speaker 3: we won't know until we get pictures and roll her
10:04
Speaker 3: over if the gun's there or not.
10:06
Speaker 11: But it is kind of weird.
10:08
Speaker 12: She's got a.
10:08
Speaker 11: Boyfriend that she said she quit talking to, and he
10:12
Speaker 11: thought she was just blocked.
10:13
Speaker 14: Right.
10:15
Speaker 3: Let's look at the food. She said the front door was.
10:19
Speaker 4: Unlocked, and she checked it.
10:21
Speaker 13: Right.
10:21
Speaker 11: And then just decided not to go in.
10:24
Speaker 3: This is, uh, kind of looks from last night.
10:26
Speaker 4: The TV still on?
10:27
Speaker 3: You know what? She made food last night, but she
10:30
Speaker 3: didn't eat it. Because, look, she was making chicken rice spaghetti. Oh, yeah,
10:34
Speaker 3: spaghetti and supper.
10:34
Speaker 4: That I'm going to put together.
10:35
Speaker 8: Yep.
10:37
Speaker 6: Okay.
10:38
Speaker 1: Yeah.
10:39
Speaker 3: All right.
10:43
Speaker 11: I'll let you go down there and break the knees
10:44
Speaker 11: to her.
10:44
Speaker 8: Okay.
10:45
Speaker 7: Is she in there?
11:01
Speaker 1: Crystal Williams experienced an incredibly rough early childhood and was
11:06
Speaker 1: in and out of Child Protective Services custody due to
11:09
Speaker 1: issues within her biological family. She was permanently placed in
11:13
Speaker 1: foster care at the age of 11. Her foster mother,
11:17
Speaker 1: Maria Douglas, believed that this fortified Crystal with a resilient nature.
11:22
Speaker 1: It also left Crystal with an innate desire to forgive,
11:26
Speaker 1: to offer second chances, and always see the best in people.
11:30
Speaker 15: She really had a heart for people, and she had
11:32
Speaker 15: a heart for people who needed second chances. That was
11:34
Speaker 15: her whole life, right, is people who needed second chances.
11:37
Speaker 15: But at that same token, I think that really left
11:40
Speaker 15: her sort of vulnerable, that left her predisposed, that kindness.
11:45
Speaker 1: At her job managing the crazy clean car wash, Crystal
11:49
Speaker 1: was known to offer chances to those less fortunate, helping
11:52
Speaker 1: out homeless applicants for work, for example. But friends also
11:56
Speaker 1: reported that her generous nature could extend to seeking attention
12:00
Speaker 1: from men in inappropriate ways, agreeing to loan her car,
12:05
Speaker 1: pay for cell phone bills, and purchasing gifts. Those close
12:09
Speaker 1: to her reported that Crystal was sometimes taken advantage of
12:13
Speaker 1: due to her kind nature. and forgiving nature. An autopsy
12:22
Speaker 1: determined that Crystal Williams died from a single gunshot wound
12:25
Speaker 1: to the neck. When police descended upon the scene in
12:28
Speaker 1: her apartment, they found no gun left behind. Her death
12:33
Speaker 1: was ruled a homicide. A neighbor reported hearing a gunshot
12:36
Speaker 1: sometime between 6pm and 8pm on April 25th, the Tuesday
12:41
Speaker 1: that Crystal was thought to have been killed. The timeline
12:45
Speaker 1: was not exact. There were no signs of forced entry
12:48
Speaker 1: into the unit. The moment of Crystal's death appears to
12:51
Speaker 1: have come about abruptly. There were no signs of a struggle.
12:55
Speaker 1: Her spaghetti dinner was fully prepared yet untouched on her stovetop.
13:00
Speaker 1: Her toxicology was clear. Crystal was not known to do
13:04
Speaker 1: drugs and she rarely drank alcohol. No discharged ammunition was
13:09
Speaker 1: found inside the apartment. Also not located was Crystal's cell phone.
13:14
Speaker 1: There was a cigarette on the kitchen floor and another
13:17
Speaker 1: just outside the external door. Crystal was not a smoker.
13:25
Speaker 1: There were two men in Crystal's life that Shalora suggested
13:29
Speaker 1: police should look into. The first was boyfriend Larry, who
13:33
Speaker 1: claimed to have been blocked by Crystal days earlier. Larry,
13:37
Speaker 1: she said, had a criminal record.
13:40
Speaker 13: He's acting nice and stuff now but you gotta remember
13:43
Speaker 13: he still went to prison and he still.
13:45
Speaker 4: Did what he did you know she told me that
13:48
Speaker 4: it was.
13:49
Speaker 13: Armed robbery okay and he i think she said that
13:53
Speaker 13: um it was like wrong place wrong time type of
13:57
Speaker 13: thing or something like that yeah um so i was
14:00
Speaker 13: like well you still have to play that a factor
14:02
Speaker 13: she was always trying to see the best in people
14:05
Speaker 13: and um So I told her, you know, like, stop
14:08
Speaker 13: messing with him. Like, he's showing, like, signs that he's overprotective. Like,
14:12
Speaker 13: he's trying to control you. He's asking for your location
14:15
Speaker 13: all the time. You know, be careful because he's acting
14:18
Speaker 13: nice and stuff right now because he's on papers and
14:21
Speaker 13: he can go back to jail. He can't put his
14:23
Speaker 13: hands on you because if you call the police, then
14:25
Speaker 13: he goes back to jail.
14:28
Speaker 1: The second name Shalora mentioned was ex-boyfriend Andy. Though the
14:32
Speaker 1: two had broken up roughly three months prior, He maintained
14:36
Speaker 1: a cell phone contract under Crystal's name, which kept them
14:39
Speaker 1: in contact. More recently, Crystal had told her friend that
14:43
Speaker 1: he had been reaching out, asking whether she would leave
14:45
Speaker 1: a key for her apartment out for him.
14:47
Speaker 13: So then I told her, you know, like, he just
14:50
Speaker 13: said that you weren't his type and all this. Like,
14:53
Speaker 13: I keep telling you to stop messing with him. He's
14:55
Speaker 13: not for you. He's just for your money and what
14:57
Speaker 13: you do for him. She just kept telling me about Andy,
15:02
Speaker 13: and it was just beginning to be too much for me.
15:05
Speaker 13: And I kept telling her to stop, stop, stop.
15:08
Speaker 1: There was one additional, crucial piece of information relayed by Shalora.
15:12
Speaker 1: Crystal had very recently reported falling a victim to an accident.
15:18
Speaker 1: She fell down the stairs, she said, and sustained a
15:21
Speaker 1: bruise to the right side of her face.
15:24
Speaker 4: She was like, girl, you would.
15:25
Speaker 5: Not believe this.
15:26
Speaker 13: I fell down the stairs. And then that's when she
15:30
Speaker 13: told me that I don't know exactly where she says
15:32
Speaker 13: she fell, but she says she fell and hit her
15:35
Speaker 13: eye on the corner of one of the corners of
15:37
Speaker 13: the rails or something like that.
15:39
Speaker 4: So that's recent. That just happened. She just told me
15:41
Speaker 4: about that on Monday or Tuesday.
15:46
Speaker 1: Detectives were keen to speak with Crystal's current boyfriend, Larry Johnson.
15:50
Speaker 1: They found him that afternoon where he worked. at Drilling
15:54
Speaker 1: Tools International. Larry was patted down and walked outside.
15:59
Speaker 3: Who's your girlfriend right now? I don't have a girlfriend.
16:02
Speaker 4: I talk to a whole bunch of girls.
16:03
Speaker 14: Okay.
16:04
Speaker 3: I don't know who you're talking about.
16:06
Speaker 4: Did you receive a phone call today?
16:08
Speaker 15: No, sir.
16:09
Speaker 9: You didn't receive any?
16:10
Speaker 3: From y'all? No, not from us, from a female. This
16:13
Speaker 3: is what you're talking.
16:15
Speaker 16: About?
16:17
Speaker 3: This is kind of weird. She said she's not answering.
16:21
Speaker 17: This is.
16:21
Speaker 8: Yeah.
16:22
Speaker 13: Yeah.
16:24
Speaker 11: So what's up with that?
16:25
Speaker 3: Who's Crystal? That's one of the girls I talked to.
16:28
Speaker 8: Okay.
16:29
Speaker 3: So do you live with her or what's y'all's relationship like?
16:33
Speaker 3: We just f * * * ing around.
16:34
Speaker 13: That's it.
16:36
Speaker 3: So what's going on? She's dead right now. When's the
16:39
Speaker 3: last time you talked to her? It was like three
16:42
Speaker 3: days ago, man. Three days ago?
16:44
Speaker 8: What's going on?
16:45
Speaker 3: Was it the last time you saw her? What you
16:46
Speaker 3: mean by she's dead though? Like, like, like, what you mean? Like, like, like...
16:51
Speaker 3: Not only did Larry deny being in a relationship.
16:56
Speaker 16: With Crystal, he further claimed that she had a disreputable
16:59
Speaker 16: side hustle, one that saw her involved with sketchy characters.
17:17
Speaker 1: Larry met Crystal a short time before. He estimated a
17:20
Speaker 1: month on the dating app Plenty of Fish. He said
17:23
Speaker 1: that they were not serious, though he knew that she
17:26
Speaker 1: wanted more. From Larry's perspective, he was not interested in
17:30
Speaker 1: a girlfriend with a history of prostitution, though he admitted
17:34
Speaker 1: that he did enjoy the perks of knowing Crystal, an
17:37
Speaker 1: apartment to stay the night, and regular gifts like new clothing.
17:42
Speaker 2: The last time Larry saw Crystal was at her apartment
17:45
Speaker 2: two days earlier, on Tuesday evening.
17:46
Speaker 3: He claimed that she.
17:47
Speaker 16: Was angry with him, presumably for seeing other women. More importantly,
17:51
Speaker 16: he said that he had video of Crystal from that night.
18:10
Speaker 4: You saw her, it was three days ago?
18:11
Speaker 8: About three.
18:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, about three days ago. What was, how was she
18:15
Speaker 3: acting then? Fine? No, she told me.
18:17
Speaker 16: She was like, when I left, she was trying to
18:20
Speaker 16: do all this stuff, but I even got a kind
18:22
Speaker 16: of video, started.
18:23
Speaker 3: Videoing her weird ways and everything.
18:25
Speaker 5: Oh yeah?
18:25
Speaker 16: Yeah, and she was starting to, I bought this stuff.
18:28
Speaker 16: I was like, man, you can have all this s
18:29
Speaker 16: * * *. And so like, I just left. And
18:33
Speaker 16: on that type of note.
18:34
Speaker 3: So what happened? Well, she was found deceased in her house. Like,
18:40
Speaker 3: what happened? Like, what I'm saying?
18:44
Speaker 4: There's a reason why we're investigating as a homicide, you
18:46
Speaker 4: know what I mean?
18:50
Speaker 3: And you can't give me the details? I can't right now, sir.
18:54
Speaker 4: Is there anything you can think of to help us
18:56
Speaker 4: out as far as what might have happened?
18:58
Speaker 16: That's what I'm... Like, she got too much going on.
19:01
Speaker 13: I don't know.
19:02
Speaker 8: I don't know.
19:02
Speaker 3: That's why I.
19:03
Speaker 1: Larry appeared to be extremely cooperative. He agreed to have
19:07
Speaker 1: officers search through his car. He even handed over his
19:11
Speaker 1: cell phone for a full extraction of its data. That
19:14
Speaker 1: included the recording he made of Crystal on the night
19:17
Speaker 1: she was killed, perhaps the last known sighting of her alive. Then,
19:23
Speaker 1: shortly after leaving police at Drilling Tools, he arrived at
19:27
Speaker 1: the Fodry Ranch apartments, smoking a cigarette, asking for details
19:32
Speaker 1: of the investigation, and explaining again, this time unsolicited, that
19:38
Speaker 1: Crystal was not his girlfriend. Yes, sir.
19:43
Speaker 7: No, I understand.
19:44
Speaker 13: Yeah.
19:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was just trying to figure out what was
19:50
Speaker 3: going on, like, like, details. We don't know.
19:53
Speaker 16: I know he told you.
19:55
Speaker 12: She runs, like, she runs a little game, but, like,
19:57
Speaker 12: we wasn't, we wasn't.
19:58
Speaker 16: Boyfriend and girlfriend, like, they said I'm a boyfriend, but
20:01
Speaker 16: it's not true.
20:01
Speaker 3: Like, we just, like, around.
20:04
Speaker 16: I tell her, I tell her, Larry left the scene
20:07
Speaker 16: without gaining any further information.
20:09
Speaker 12: You know what I'm saying?
20:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, but... And again, we're not ruling him out. He's
20:40
Speaker 3: still a suspect. Yeah, I get it, but.
20:43
Speaker 6: But we want to keep an open mind in case
20:45
Speaker 6: there's other people that.
20:47
Speaker 3: May have been involved.
20:48
Speaker 4: And the reason I mentioned.
20:51
Speaker 6: This Andy guy, because there was previous reports involving.
20:56
Speaker 4: Them and family violence. I mean, I don't sit past anybody.
21:00
Speaker 13: Right.
21:00
Speaker 4: Yeah, and neither do we at this point.
21:02
Speaker 15: So.
21:03
Speaker 4: Because people can put up a show and then.
21:07
Speaker 4: Yep, absolutely right. So, I really don't know.
21:12
Speaker 13: Yeah, okay.
21:15
Speaker 1: Shalora offered an additional piece of information to officers, which
21:19
Speaker 1: would prove crucial to the investigation. Just a week before,
21:23
Speaker 1: Crystal told her that Larry had a gun. He was
21:27
Speaker 1: not meant to be in possession of one, according to
21:29
Speaker 1: the conditions of his parole. Nonetheless, she said that the
21:32
Speaker 1: two were watching a scary movie and he heard noises outside.
21:36
Speaker 1: Larry then retrieved a handgun from his backpack and went
21:39
Speaker 1: out to investigate. The disturbance turned out to be just
21:42
Speaker 1: a few neighbors making some noise, so nothing to worry about.
21:47
Speaker 1: Except the gun that Larry kept concealed in his backpack,
21:51
Speaker 1: of course. Officers visited Larry's aunt's home where he had
21:55
Speaker 1: a room. With his permission, they looked around. When he
21:58
Speaker 1: arrived home, they asked him to follow them to the station.
22:01
Speaker 3: Larry, you're not in trouble, my man. They just want
22:06
Speaker 3: to talk to you a little bit more at the
22:08
Speaker 3: police department.
22:08
Speaker 4: Is that okay?
22:09
Speaker 8: You can take your own ride and everything else. Okay?
22:14
Speaker 3: You want to follow us to the police department?
22:17
Speaker 8: Okay.
22:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, I got my phone cooked. Yeah, they got it.
22:22
Speaker 1: Larry was questioned about the handgun he was rumored to
22:25
Speaker 1: carry with him in his black backpack.
22:28
Speaker 8: I guess something had happened outside of the apartment and
22:31
Speaker 8: you went outside with a gun. That's one of the
22:36
Speaker 8: things we were told. Do you have any guns, how
22:40
Speaker 8: many guns, or did you?
22:45
Speaker 1: A voluntary search of his room at his aunt's house,
22:48
Speaker 1: as well as his car, failed to recover a firearm.
22:51
Speaker 1: Larry was probed further regarding the allegations towards Crystal's side hustle.
22:56
Speaker 1: Investigators were understandably reluctant to take his assertions about Crystal's
23:01
Speaker 1: behavior at face value.
23:04
Speaker 8: You said something at the very first that kind of
23:06
Speaker 8: hinders me. You called her a prostitute. Yeah, that's what
23:09
Speaker 8: she said. So, common, what's a prostitute to you? She
23:16
Speaker 8: sells a body.
23:17
Speaker 12: She sells suits.
23:18
Speaker 8: She's admitted that to you? It's just kind of weird how, like,
23:23
Speaker 8: she already openly admitted.
23:25
Speaker 16: To you that she's a prostitute, but then she's trying
23:27
Speaker 16: to treat you like a boyfriend and keeping.
23:30
Speaker 8: Stuff from you.
23:38
Speaker 1: Larry claimed that Crystal would lie to him about her activities,
23:42
Speaker 1: that she would forget what she had told him and
23:45
Speaker 1: then backtrack later. He said he was never certain whether
23:48
Speaker 1: she was actively seeing other men for money or not,
23:52
Speaker 1: nor could he say how many clients she had at
23:54
Speaker 1: any point in time.
23:55
Speaker 14: She used to be Then it comes out that she is,
24:00
Speaker 14: and then she goes back and say, you.
24:02
Speaker 3: Know what I'm saying, she only has a couple.
24:05
Speaker 8: Then she says she only had one. Then she says
24:08
Speaker 8: she don't do that no more.
24:10
Speaker 16: I just, you know what I'm saying, when she sweats me,
24:15
Speaker 16: I push back many times.
24:21
Speaker 1: In the following days, the Odessa PD dove further into
24:25
Speaker 1: the life of Crystal Williams. They spoke with a handful
24:28
Speaker 1: of her co-workers and employees at the car wash. One
24:31
Speaker 1: of her fellow managers had also been a friend for
24:34
Speaker 1: several years. She spoke of Crystal affectionately, but factually. She
24:39
Speaker 1: cared for Crystal. Her friend was known to have an active,
24:43
Speaker 1: if ill-advised, dating life.
24:46
Speaker 3: Crystal dates multiple men.
24:49
Speaker 8: At a time? Okay.
24:50
Speaker 3: She lives that lifestyle. Mm-hmm.
24:56
Speaker 18: Um, do you know of her having any like side jobs,
25:01
Speaker 18: side hustles to make more money?
25:03
Speaker 19: As far as I know, she didn't do that anymore,
25:05
Speaker 19: but she used to be a prostitute. She'd tell you
25:08
Speaker 19: about it. She wasn't embarrassed.
25:10
Speaker 3: She was, you know, but I don't know if she's
25:12
Speaker 3: doing that. We're just friends at work.
25:15
Speaker 8: Yeah.
25:15
Speaker 3: You know, but we've been friends for almost five years.
25:19
Speaker 3: She just chooses to live stupid. And you're by yourself
25:23
Speaker 3: and you're doing crazy.
25:23
Speaker 4: Things and What do you mean by like crazy things?
25:27
Speaker 3: Different men. I mean, and one was married.
25:29
Speaker 4: Do you know who her current boyfriend is?
25:33
Speaker 3: No, I just know he's a black man. Because he
25:35
Speaker 3: was steadily driving her car.
25:37
Speaker 4: He was driving her car?
25:38
Speaker 19: But I mean, it could be she has like four, five, six.
25:42
Speaker 3: I don't know.
25:45
Speaker 1: Crystal's work friends had also heard of her recent injuries,
25:49
Speaker 1: that she had taken a bad fall down the stairs.
25:52
Speaker 4: Well, you weren't the only one that she told that
25:54
Speaker 4: she fell down the stairs.
25:55
Speaker 3: She told Taco, too.
25:57
Speaker 4: The guy here.
25:59
Speaker 19: And I told my husband, and he was like, not
26:01
Speaker 19: on your face like that.
26:03
Speaker 3: And I'm like, she said she fell all the way
26:04
Speaker 3: down the stairs.
26:05
Speaker 19: And she kind of laughed and then said that her
26:08
Speaker 19: dude didn't try to help her until she was crying.
26:11
Speaker 4: So she said that he was with her when.
26:13
Speaker 7: She fell down the stairs.
26:14
Speaker 3: Whoever he was, somebody was with her, yes.
26:16
Speaker 4: Did she tell you when this happened?
26:18
Speaker 8: No.
26:18
Speaker 4: No? Did the bruising look pretty recent?
26:21
Speaker 8: Yes. No.
26:23
Speaker 3: It was like rain and, you know, those kinds. She
26:25
Speaker 3: drives a badass car. She has a nice car. She
26:29
Speaker 3: keeps up with it and she lets anybody, anyone that she,
26:33
Speaker 3: it's like, it's like she wants affection.
26:38
Speaker 1: The boyfriend that had been driving Crystal's car was not
26:41
Speaker 1: thought to be Larry Johnson. Investigators learned that Crystal's ex-boyfriend, Andy,
26:46
Speaker 1: was the likely driver. When Andy sat down with investigators,
26:50
Speaker 1: he was also extremely cooperative. He explained that he and
26:54
Speaker 1: Crystal met when he lived in Mississippi. After relocating to
26:58
Speaker 1: Texas in late 2021, they reconnected. He had lost his
27:02
Speaker 1: job and was struggling to secure an apartment. Crystal offered
27:06
Speaker 1: to let him stay at hers.
27:09
Speaker 14: Well, we had a good relationship and at the same time,
27:12
Speaker 14: you know, she wanted to.
27:15
Speaker 8: taking more, you know, wanted to like be with me,
27:17
Speaker 8: be with me.
27:19
Speaker 14: But I wanted to keep that friend zone because I
27:22
Speaker 14: didn't want to take it that far with her. And
27:25
Speaker 14: to be honest, she didn't have no family. I know
27:28
Speaker 14: that she was a foster, foster kid. And she really
27:33
Speaker 14: didn't have nobody. And I just wanted to be the person,
27:37
Speaker 14: you know, to really just like, you know, be a
27:39
Speaker 14: friend to her.
27:41
Speaker 8: And so that's what I was.
27:42
Speaker 1: You know, Though Andy said he wanted nothing more than
27:46
Speaker 1: friendship with Crystal, he had previously reported carrying on a
27:50
Speaker 1: physical relationship with her, perhaps blurring the lines of that friendship,
27:54
Speaker 1: at least in her mind. In the autumn of 2022,
27:57
Speaker 1: he moved out of her apartment and found his own place.
28:02
Speaker 1: Andy continued to borrow her car, however. This arrangement led
28:06
Speaker 1: to a reported incident with the Odessa police that October.
28:09
Speaker 8: I have my own place in here. And I had
28:13
Speaker 8: some friends over. I had a girl over.
28:17
Speaker 3: You know, we was always friends also.
28:19
Speaker 8: And I had a guy friend over. And I was
28:23
Speaker 8: using her car.
28:25
Speaker 14: And so she was texting me to go get her
28:27
Speaker 14: some medicine, which I didn't respond that quickly.
28:31
Speaker 8: And then she came over there.
28:32
Speaker 14: She barked and tried to jump on a girl. And
28:36
Speaker 14: then she started throwing everything over the balcony.
28:39
Speaker 3: How long?
28:41
Speaker 14: There she is in my place. So she started throwing everything.
28:44
Speaker 14: She said, I bought everything. I'm taking it all back.
28:49
Speaker 14: So she threw everything over the balcony. And then what
28:53
Speaker 14: I did, I called the police. I recorded her at first.
28:58
Speaker 8: And then I called the police to come over there.
29:00
Speaker 14: And she just stormed out and ran to her house.
29:04
Speaker 1: When Andy asked for details about what happened to Crystal,
29:07
Speaker 1: the detective's response was blunt. They were looking at two suspects,
29:12
Speaker 1: and he was one of them.
29:15
Speaker 8: Andy's new girlfriend was his alibi for the night of
29:22
Speaker 8: the murder.
29:36
Speaker 1: Andy's new girlfriend was his alibi for the night of
29:38
Speaker 1: the murder. Her recollection was murky, but thankfully for him,
29:43
Speaker 1: the home they shared together had cameras. Detectives were able
29:47
Speaker 1: to acquire footage and verify his whereabouts. Andy was eliminated
29:51
Speaker 1: as a suspect. The only remaining suspect, Larry Johnson... admitted
29:59
Speaker 1: to being with Crystal in her apartment on the night
30:01
Speaker 1: she died, though he claimed he left after they had
30:04
Speaker 1: a disagreement. His memory of the night was not 100% clear.
30:09
Speaker 1: He said he had been drinking, though from her apartment
30:13
Speaker 1: he recalled traveling to stay with another woman. We'll call
30:16
Speaker 1: her Amanda. They had recently started dating and she was
30:20
Speaker 1: living out of a motel on Bankhead Highway. Based on
30:24
Speaker 1: the timeline already established, Amanda was not in a position
30:27
Speaker 1: to offer Larry an alibi. He could have shot Crystal
30:31
Speaker 1: before driving out to spend the night with her. What
30:34
Speaker 1: investigators were interested in was what she could tell them
30:37
Speaker 1: about the so far elusive handgun. Was he carrying it
30:40
Speaker 1: that night? Or did he leave it with her?
30:45
Speaker 14: Yes.
30:46
Speaker 8: I need to talk to you.
30:47
Speaker 13: What's up?
30:48
Speaker 4: I need to talk to you about, uh, Johnson.
30:51
Speaker 13: Larry.
30:52
Speaker 3: Larry.
30:58
Speaker 1: Motel staff shared security footage of Larry arriving at approximately 4.15am
31:03
Speaker 1: on Wednesday the 26th and leaving at approximately 4.54. At
31:09
Speaker 1: one point, he exited the room, retrieved something from his car,
31:12
Speaker 1: and then re-entered. Detectives believed that he was moving awkwardly,
31:17
Speaker 1: perhaps concealing something out of the view of the camera.
31:21
Speaker 1: Amanda was adamant that Larry did not bring anything into
31:25
Speaker 1: her room with him. Eventually, Amanda suggested that Larry could
31:29
Speaker 1: have left at one point to carry his backpack into
31:32
Speaker 1: the room before taking a shower.
31:34
Speaker 4: It had to be after 2 o'clock.
31:36
Speaker 8: But he was only here for 30 minutes, and he
31:39
Speaker 8: was carrying something.
31:42
Speaker 2: Well, you can go through my whole house.
31:44
Speaker 4: Like I told you, he didn't have anything with him.
31:46
Speaker 8: Okay, and I don't think it's here now, because it's
31:49
Speaker 8: been back since.
31:50
Speaker 3: He didn't take anything.
31:52
Speaker 8: But he brought something in.
31:55
Speaker 4: He brought a six-pack of beers?
31:56
Speaker 3: I don't think it was beers.
31:58
Speaker 8: It was something he shoved right in his pants and
32:01
Speaker 8: he was pouring it out.
32:02
Speaker 4: He's walking real weird when he's coming in.
32:05
Speaker 3: It wasn't beer. It wasn't like he was carrying a
32:06
Speaker 3: case of beer.
32:07
Speaker 4: I have no idea. That's strange. Because it didn't have
32:15
Speaker 4: anything on him. Was there somebody on the phone? Yeah,
32:17
Speaker 4: my sister and me were talking.
32:18
Speaker 5: Okay.
32:20
Speaker 1: The person on FaceTime with Amanda was her sister, who
32:23
Speaker 1: we will call Caitlin. It seems that Caitlin also knew
32:27
Speaker 1: Larry Johnson, because the two had also dated. Setting that
32:31
Speaker 1: story to one side, what was of interest to investigators
32:34
Speaker 1: was what Caitlin had to say about what she observed
32:37
Speaker 1: of Larry's black backpack.
32:40
Speaker 20: He always carried this backpack with him everywhere he went,
32:44
Speaker 20: even in my bathroom.
32:45
Speaker 4: If he had to go to the bathroom, he would
32:47
Speaker 4: carry the backpack.
32:49
Speaker 3: Just everywhere.
32:50
Speaker 4: It was unusual. He never let the backpack go.
32:53
Speaker 3: Do you know what was in the backpack?
32:54
Speaker 4: Yeah.
32:55
Speaker 3: What was in the backpack?
32:56
Speaker 8: A gun.
32:56
Speaker 3: A gun? Yeah. You know what kind of gun?
32:59
Speaker 4: I can only tell you what it looks like.
33:01
Speaker 20: It's not like a 9mm.
33:04
Speaker 3: It's a.
33:06
Speaker 4: The police officer said it was like a revolver. It
33:09
Speaker 4: had like that little circle thing that you spin.
33:12
Speaker 8: Okay.
33:14
Speaker 4: Yeah.
33:16
Speaker 20: The only reason why I saw it It's because he
33:18
Speaker 20: went out of my bathroom with his backpack and he
33:20
Speaker 20: had it in his waistband and he took it off
33:24
Speaker 20: and took it out of his waistband and I seen
33:26
Speaker 20: it real quick.
33:27
Speaker 3: And he hurried.
33:28
Speaker 4: Up and put it in his backpack.
33:30
Speaker 3: Would he commonly carry it in his waistband? Yes.
33:36
Speaker 1: A second search of Larry's room and the rest of
33:39
Speaker 1: his aunt's home again failed to locate a gun. The
33:42
Speaker 1: search of his car returned something of interest. a certificate
33:46
Speaker 1: for the successful completion of an anger management course dated
33:50
Speaker 1: earlier that month. Larry's criminal record was colorful. He had
33:54
Speaker 1: recently avoided prison time for a charge of domestic violence.
33:58
Speaker 1: The ex-girlfriend who brought these charges was contacted by Odessa PD.
34:03
Speaker 6: I understand that you were in a relationship with him?
34:08
Speaker 12: Yes, sir, I was.
34:10
Speaker 6: Have you had any recent contact with him?
34:13
Speaker 3: No, sir.
34:13
Speaker 5: Not since the 25th of February of last year when
34:17
Speaker 5: he left my home when I pressed charges on him
34:19
Speaker 5: for domestic violence.
34:22
Speaker 6: We're investigating another family violence incident that we believe that
34:26
Speaker 6: he was involved in. So I was just trying to
34:29
Speaker 6: get a background of your perspective.
34:33
Speaker 5: Oh, I feel like they should have never even released him.
34:36
Speaker 5: I feel like he should have served time in jail.
34:39
Speaker 5: But me personally, I feel like he needs to be
34:40
Speaker 5: in jail. I don't ever feel like he's going to
34:42
Speaker 5: learn his lesson. Like I said, he has a history
34:45
Speaker 5: of violence. He hasn't learned from it. If y'all are
34:48
Speaker 5: needing to know how awful this person is, he's horrible.
34:53
Speaker 5: He's a horrible person. And all I feel like he's
34:56
Speaker 5: going to continue to do if he's out free is
34:58
Speaker 5: obviously what he just said. did again, another domestic violence situation.
35:02
Speaker 5: He's a violent person, and he's not going to learn
35:04
Speaker 5: his lesson. He puts on this persona as if he's
35:07
Speaker 5: this sweet, kind, innocent. During the time that I was
35:10
Speaker 5: with him for a year, it was horrible. He's a manipulator.
35:14
Speaker 3: He's a liar.
35:15
Speaker 5: In front of everybody else, he acts as if he's, like,
35:19
Speaker 5: this awesome person. But with a person like, for instance, myself,
35:23
Speaker 5: because he lived with me, He was horrible. He was
35:28
Speaker 5: not who he made himself out to be. And like
35:30
Speaker 5: I said, I just feel like he needs to be
35:32
Speaker 5: behind bars. I feel like that's his placement. I don't
35:36
Speaker 5: know what else exactly you guys need me to say.
35:38
Speaker 5: If I need to come testify for anything, I'm willing
35:41
Speaker 5: to do that.
35:42
Speaker 6: Did he ever record you?
35:46
Speaker 10: He did record me when I was trying to get
35:48
Speaker 10: his phone when I noticed he was recording me. And
35:51
Speaker 10: so that's one reason why they decided to drop the
35:57
Speaker 10: charge lower because they said I would be the aggressor.
35:59
Speaker 10: When I wasn't hitting him, I was trying to get
36:01
Speaker 10: his phone away, but obviously it looked like that because
36:04
Speaker 10: I was reaching for his phone, which he had near him. So, yes,
36:08
Speaker 10: he did record me.
36:11
Speaker 1: The information offered by Larry's ex-girlfriend was potentially enlightening. it
36:16
Speaker 1: may reveal a pattern. She called him violent and said
36:20
Speaker 1: that he was worse when drinking, as he had been
36:22
Speaker 1: on the night Crystal was killed. She said that she
36:25
Speaker 1: knew he had access to a gun. She explained that
36:29
Speaker 1: when the incident that she reported occurred, she could not
36:32
Speaker 1: call 911 because he had taken her cell phone. Crystal's
36:35
Speaker 1: phone was also missing from the scene. Crucially, she also
36:39
Speaker 1: explained how Larry had made short recordings of her on
36:43
Speaker 1: his cell phone Presenting them out of context, he used
36:46
Speaker 1: these videos to escape the worst of the charges against him.
36:50
Speaker 1: Larry would record her in an effort to make it
36:53
Speaker 1: appear that she was the one behaving crazy. Investigators accessed
36:59
Speaker 1: two videos of Crystal recorded by Larry on his cell phone.
37:03
Speaker 1: Both were located amongst his deleted files. The first was
37:07
Speaker 1: at 9.15pm on Tuesday night, the night she was killed.
37:30
Speaker 1: The second was recorded only minutes later. It appeared to
37:34
Speaker 1: show the two in an argument, or at least at
37:37
Speaker 1: the end of what seemed to have been a disagreement.
37:40
Speaker 1: He is heard behind the camera, taunting her for a reaction.
37:44
Speaker 1: seeming to push for a confrontation.
37:47
Speaker 12: So, no, but this is not my house. What do
37:50
Speaker 12: you want me to do? Do you want me to
37:52
Speaker 12: leave the house? Are you telling me to leave?
37:56
Speaker 4: Do what you want to do.
38:01
Speaker 12: So you're not going to give me an answer, do
38:03
Speaker 12: I need to leave? You always tell me you don't
38:05
Speaker 12: want me to leave, but I need to know. Don't
38:10
Speaker 12: do what you want to do.
38:12
Speaker 3: I don't care no more.
38:14
Speaker 12: Okay, you say that all the f * * *
38:15
Speaker 12: ing time. Then when I leave, you'll be like, you
38:17
Speaker 12: left me. So what the f * * * do
38:18
Speaker 12: you want to do? Do I need to get the
38:20
Speaker 12: f * * * out your house? Because I was
38:24
Speaker 12: over there minding my own goddamn business. You kept on
38:26
Speaker 12: coming over here with that bulls * * *.
38:28
Speaker 1: In the video, Crystal is wearing the same clothing that
38:31
Speaker 1: she would be found in two days later. She is
38:34
Speaker 1: seated in the bathroom in the exact location where it
38:37
Speaker 1: was speculated that she was shot and killed. On the
38:45
Speaker 1: morning of May 2nd, five days after Crystal was found dead,
38:49
Speaker 1: Odessa PD arrested Larry Johnson. He was charged with first-degree
38:54
Speaker 1: murder and tampering with physical evidence.
38:58
Speaker 3: Hey Larry, how's it going? Put your hands behind your
39:00
Speaker 3: back for me, okay?
39:03
Speaker 1: The gun had not been located. Regardless, the investigation had
39:08
Speaker 1: determined that in piecing together the timeline, they had a
39:11
Speaker 1: solid case. Data from Larry's Apple Watch was used to
39:15
Speaker 1: fill in the gaps around his phone data. The first
39:18
Speaker 1: video of Crystal was recorded at 9.15 p.m. It lasted
39:23
Speaker 1: roughly 18 seconds. The second one, recorded at 9.18, lasted
39:26
Speaker 1: less than a minute. The step count registered on Larry's
39:32
Speaker 1: smartwatch showed a significant increase in activity between 9.23 and 9.33.
39:37
Speaker 1: It is during this window of time that investigators believe
39:41
Speaker 1: Crystal was killed. Phone records then showed that Larry left
39:46
Speaker 1: Crystal's apartment at approximately 9.54. Six minutes after that, Larry
39:52
Speaker 1: called Crystal. The records showed both cell phones connected to
39:55
Speaker 1: a phone tower on West County Road 125 during that call.
40:00
Speaker 1: An expert for the Odessa PD further determined that on
40:04
Speaker 1: the call, the two devices shared the same degree and
40:07
Speaker 1: direction to the cellular antennae. Essentially, when Larry called Crystal's
40:12
Speaker 1: phone after the argument, both cell phones were in the
40:16
Speaker 1: same area east of the Fodry apartment complex. He must
40:20
Speaker 1: have taken her cell phone with him and later disposed
40:24
Speaker 1: of it. Crystal's phone appeared to be turned off immediately
40:27
Speaker 1: after the phone call from Larry at 10 p.m. Larry
40:35
Speaker 1: Johnson was held in custody awaiting trial for two years.
40:39
Speaker 1: By the time the case was presented to a jury,
40:41
Speaker 1: Larry's defense team had armed themselves with several compelling angles
40:46
Speaker 1: to cast reasonable doubt. And under the light of scrutiny,
40:50
Speaker 1: the prosecution's case began to crumble. Larry's defense argued that
40:56
Speaker 1: the Odessa PD bungled the case from start to finish.
41:00
Speaker 1: They narrowed in on Larry early on and never took
41:03
Speaker 1: a wider view to consider other scenarios or other suspects. Namely,
41:09
Speaker 1: the assertion that Crystal may have been actively working as
41:12
Speaker 1: a prostitute.
41:13
Speaker 16: It was an allegation that was dismissed.
41:15
Speaker 3: If true, she could have.
41:17
Speaker 19: Met with a client after parting ways with Larry on
41:20
Speaker 19: the night she was killed.
41:34
Speaker 1: Activity from her dating app, Plenty of Fish, in conjunction
41:38
Speaker 1: with transactions on her Cash app, were never subpoenaed and
41:42
Speaker 1: scrutinized by investigators. The defense argued these accounts held alternative
41:47
Speaker 1: timelines and leads that police completely bypassed due to their
41:51
Speaker 1: tunnel vision. This was an inexcusable oversight given Crystal's admitted
41:56
Speaker 1: history in the world's oldest profession. The defense never argued
42:01
Speaker 1: definitively that she had restarted these activities, only that the
42:05
Speaker 1: possibility was dismissed by the Odessa PD before it was
42:08
Speaker 1: properly considered or investigated. Crystal could have, conceivably, arranged a
42:14
Speaker 1: late-night meeting with an unknown man, the real killer. The second,
42:21
Speaker 1: unforgivable error in the investigation occurred in the searches performed
42:26
Speaker 1: of Larry's bedroom. In that room, investigators had located the
42:30
Speaker 1: clothing they believed he had been wearing on April 25th
42:34
Speaker 1: and sent it for testing. Security footage from a Stripe
42:37
Speaker 1: convenience store on Faudry Road from around 8.30 p.m. on
42:41
Speaker 1: the night of the murder captured Larry driving his silver Honda.
42:45
Speaker 1: He entered the store and purchased a pack of Newport cigarettes.
42:49
Speaker 1: the same brand later found at the crime scene. In
42:52
Speaker 1: the video, he is wearing a black t-shirt, black pants
42:56
Speaker 1: with gold lettering on the legs, and white sneakers with
42:59
Speaker 1: blue trim. Multiple black t-shirts were taken from his room
43:03
Speaker 1: for testing, as well as the black jogging pants and
43:06
Speaker 1: the sneakers. Nothing of value was found on the shirts.
43:10
Speaker 1: The sneakers were never tested. However, the gold-lettered jogging pants
43:15
Speaker 1: tested positive for gunshot residue. There was no blood found
43:20
Speaker 1: on any items. Though his DNA was also found on
43:24
Speaker 1: Crystal's body and his cigarette butts in the apartment, these
43:28
Speaker 1: could be explained by his presence in the home, which
43:31
Speaker 1: he admitted. Gunshot residue could not. It could, however, potentially
43:36
Speaker 1: be explained by cross-contamination. There were three searches performed of
43:43
Speaker 1: Larry's bedroom at his aunt's house, the first on April 27th.
43:47
Speaker 1: the day that Crystal was found. This was an initial
43:51
Speaker 1: cursory search of the house. Items were shifted and examined briefly. Crucially,
43:56
Speaker 1: the defense argued that the room was not properly secured
44:00
Speaker 1: when officers left the property, leaving the environment open to
44:03
Speaker 1: contamination by third parties before the final items were seized
44:07
Speaker 1: later in the week. The second and third visit to
44:10
Speaker 1: the house compounded these issues. On May 2nd, a team
44:14
Speaker 1: of Odessa officers descended upon the house and searched through
44:18
Speaker 1: the room thoroughly. Clothing was pulled out of the closet
44:22
Speaker 1: and tossed around in piles on the floor. The defense
44:25
Speaker 1: made assertions that the area was not properly documented in advance,
44:29
Speaker 1: though the officers were at least wearing gloves. This would
44:34
Speaker 1: not be the case when detectives returned the following day.
44:38
Speaker 18: I'm very sorry to come bother you again. Yesterday, we
44:42
Speaker 18: found some pants that were in there and we didn't
44:44
Speaker 18: collect them. We got some new video that shows that
44:47
Speaker 18: those are actually the pants.
44:48
Speaker 4: That we need to craft.
44:49
Speaker 3: So that's all we got to go is do that.
44:50
Speaker 4: I'm very sorry.
44:52
Speaker 3: Appreciate you, man.
44:54
Speaker 1: Detectives handled items with their bare hands. In doing so,
44:59
Speaker 1: they ruined the opportunity for reliable touch DNA testing. Then,
45:04
Speaker 1: having forgotten to bring their own evidence bags, they borrowed
45:07
Speaker 1: one from a family member.
45:09
Speaker 3: Oh, I forgot the bags.
45:17
Speaker 15: So you want to photograph them over there?
45:19
Speaker 3: That's fine.
45:49
Speaker 1: The defense argued that because officers stuffed physical evidence into
45:53
Speaker 1: a non-sterile household trash bag rather than numbered, tamper-evident forensic bags,
45:59
Speaker 1: there was no secure chain of custody. It was impossible
46:03
Speaker 1: to prove the evidence had not been cross-contaminated, altered, or
46:07
Speaker 1: mixed with other household items. The physical evidence collection, they said,
46:12
Speaker 1: was so unscientific and sloppy that none of it could
46:16
Speaker 1: be trusted beyond a reasonable doubt.
46:20
Speaker 18: The final piece of the prosecution's case left to dissect
46:23
Speaker 18: was that of the cell.
46:25
Speaker 3: Phone data.
46:47
Speaker 1: The videos recorded of Crystal that night were indisputable. Their
46:51
Speaker 1: metadata confirmed the date and time they were taken. Prosecutors
46:55
Speaker 1: argued that the timeline established by the video meant only
46:59
Speaker 1: Larry Johnson could have carried out the murder. The location data, however,
47:03
Speaker 1: showing Larry and Crystal's devices moving together from the apartment
47:08
Speaker 1: minutes after the recordings was less solid. That Crystal's phone
47:12
Speaker 1: was powered off so soon after the final call meant
47:15
Speaker 1: that its exact location was far more challenging to establish
47:20
Speaker 1: than investigators had initially thought. Far from proving that Larry
47:24
Speaker 1: Johnson was the only possible killer, the defense argued that
47:28
Speaker 1: the errors in the investigation proved only that the Odessa
47:31
Speaker 1: PD's timeline was built upon false assumptions. The jury took
47:39
Speaker 1: only an hour and a half to reach their verdict.
47:42
Speaker 1: Larry Johnson was acquitted of all charges.
47:48
Speaker 21: You know, I don't, in my heart of hearts, I
47:50
Speaker 21: absolutely believe he did it. Was it able to be
47:52
Speaker 21: proved in court? Unfortunately not because of some things that
47:56
Speaker 21: Odessa Police Department, it came out that they could have,
47:58
Speaker 21: should have, would have with the evidence collection, despite the
48:02
Speaker 21: strong scientific evidence being there. So no doubt.
48:07
Speaker 3: But again, we have to respect the decision.
48:09
Speaker 21: And I just hope that this does not embolden him
48:13
Speaker 21: to put other people in danger.
48:18
Speaker 1: And that was the tragic case of Crystal Williams. Thank
48:21
Speaker 1: you for joining me. This week, I would like to
48:24
Speaker 1: welcome the newest Sherlock Holmes members. It's great to have
48:28
Speaker 1: you all in the lounge. This is Just Thought Lounge.
48:32
Speaker 1: I'm Kevin, and I'll see you in the next one.
48:54
Speaker 3: We talk in the.
48:55
Speaker 17: Comments, they jot in a few lines. Tune in to Headlight,
48:58
Speaker 17: love that, it's too kind. Feels like the whole world
49:00
Speaker 17: is online for true crime. Watch them on the run,
49:02
Speaker 17: but it's not a race. Really hard to disappear, proof
49:05
Speaker 17: without a trace. Sherlock Holmes with it, I put you
49:07
Speaker 17: in your place. Got my smoking pipe, only right I
49:09
Speaker 17: crack another case like.
49:10
Speaker 3: I need that feeling that you brought.
49:15
Speaker 15: Who learned the lesson that you taught?
49:20
Speaker 4: You taught To make a kill is what they saw.
49:24
Speaker 17: Found out the lounge just what you thought Found out
49:31
Speaker 17: the lounge just what you thought Found out the lounge
49:37
Speaker 17: just what you thought
49:40
Speaker 3: Found out the lounge is what you thought.