Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Man's death ruled suicide by police but the family of DJ Fickey says evidence proves it's HOMICIDE.

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Man's death ruled suicide by police but the family of DJ Fickey says evidence proves it's HOMICIDE. · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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  Speaker 1: Climb Stories with Nancy Grace Walker can yes, Sir, I
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: know h Hammad said, Uh, I set to Nicky Rose
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  Speaker 1: was problem. Uh we got guys shot. Okay, what do
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  Speaker 1: you see himself with? Okay? Is he braven? Uh? It's yeah,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I think I find to get the guys.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: I card to get cars and went out and he
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  Speaker 1: had his mother and I was my man. You know
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  Speaker 1: what the twelve gage. Yeah, this young man's death ruled suicide,
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  Speaker 1: but his family says, no way that all the evidence
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  Speaker 1: points to homicide. Imancy Grace, this is Crime Stories. Thank
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  Speaker 1: you for being with us. The family insists evidence all
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  Speaker 1: the evidence points to homicide and the man's death, so
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: why was it ruled a suicide? With me an all
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  Speaker 1: Star panel, Dave Mattcrime Online dot Com, investigative reporter, doctor
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  Speaker 1: Brian Russell, host of the hit series on investigation Discovery,
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  Speaker 1: Fatal Vows and author of Stop Moaning, Start Owning on Amazon.
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  Speaker 1: Renowned defense attorney Darryl Cohen at Daryl Cohen dot TV.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Cheryl McCollum, director of the Coal Case Research Institute. Special
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  Speaker 1: guests joining me. Eric eccles p I hired by the
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  Speaker 1: family and DJ's sister Amanda Shirley. First of you, Dave Mack,
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  Speaker 1: break it down for me what happened. Well, we have
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  Speaker 1: is as you heard on the nine one one call.
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  Speaker 1: We have DJ, who is at this home where an
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  Speaker 1: apparent alleged suicide occurred. He was there with there were
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  Speaker 1: multiple people in the home. As you heard on that
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  Speaker 1: nine one one call. You've got a guy already laying
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  Speaker 1: up the defense claiming that DJ shot himself in the mouth.
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  Speaker 1: And yet as we break this down, there were plenty
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  Speaker 1: of other things going on that actually don't make any
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  Speaker 1: sense whatsoever. There is a lot that doesn't make sense
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  Speaker 1: to me. I've got to agree with you on that,
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  Speaker 1: Dave mac. Guys, we were talking about a young man
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  Speaker 1: in the prime of his life, don DJ Fickey, prime
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  Speaker 1: of his life? So many inconsistencies in this case. We
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: want the truth. Take a listen to the rest of
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  Speaker 1: that nine one one call. How old is he? How
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  Speaker 1: old is he? How old is he? How are you?
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  Speaker 1: Twenty seven? Twenty seven? Yeah, okay, if he's still breathing,
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  Speaker 1: where's the damage done to his head? And tried to
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  Speaker 1: because why is there an exit wound? Is there an
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  Speaker 1: exit wound? The possibly still breathing. We're still no. I
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: cannot understand everything they are saying. And that's the way
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  Speaker 1: crime scenes are. They're almost all like that. As a
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  Speaker 1: matter of fact, to Darryl Cohen, were now defense attorney
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  Speaker 1: joining me right now out of the Atlanta jurisdiction, Daryl,
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  Speaker 1: when I get somebody super calm on a nine one
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  Speaker 1: one call, the hair goes up on the back of
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  Speaker 1: my neck because I think something's wrong with them. This
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  Speaker 1: is what you expected. I'm on one call to be
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  Speaker 1: like just like what we're hearing right now. When you
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  Speaker 1: hear something thing else on TV that's been doctored up
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  Speaker 1: to make it so you can hear it better, this
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  Speaker 1: is the way nine one one calls are, Darryl Cohen. Absolutely,
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  Speaker 1: I have never heard a nine one one call that
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  Speaker 1: I believed when the people were quiet, calm, and logical.
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  Speaker 1: This is exactly what I anticipate. What happened from a
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  Speaker 1: person who was absolutely in a panic. I don't know
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  Speaker 1: what to do. I just don't know what to do. Yeah, Okay,
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  Speaker 1: Jackie Howard, I want you to preserve that for the
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  Speaker 1: record because when I have a killer call in about
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  Speaker 1: his wife. Hello, I'd like to report an accident in
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  Speaker 1: our No, he did it, okay, right there, And you
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  Speaker 1: just heard Darryl Cohen saying that when somebody's calm, cool
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  Speaker 1: and collected, you better take another look. Dave Matt Crime
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  Speaker 1: online dot Com investigat reporter, you told me that there
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  Speaker 1: are a lot of people in the home he was visiting.
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  Speaker 1: Was there some kind of party or something going on
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  Speaker 1: in the background. Well, there was, at least of course DJ,
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  Speaker 1: but then his wife and another man. We're all in
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  Speaker 1: the home. At least there might have been others in
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  Speaker 1: the home as well, but at least we know there's DJ,
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  Speaker 1: there's roommate, and then there's his wife. I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: go straight out to the private investigator. We've heard of
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  Speaker 1: him before, excellent reputation, Eric Eccles joining me, hired by
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  Speaker 1: DJ's family. And this is no offense to the police. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: but you're in a sorry state when you got to
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  Speaker 1: go and hire a private investigator because you feel that
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  Speaker 1: you are not getting justice. Now, does that mean the
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  Speaker 1: police didn't look at it? No, it doesn't. It means
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  Speaker 1: this family is so distraught they want additional help. And
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  Speaker 1: I don't blame them. I think they did the right thing.
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  Speaker 1: Because I see a lot of inconsistencies just with the physical.
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  Speaker 1: But it's alone. Eric Eccles joining me. Eric, just one
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  Speaker 1: question to start with, who all was in that home?
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  Speaker 1: Where was DJ Ficky when he was shot? DJ Ficky
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  Speaker 1: was sitting on a couch when he was shot. There
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  Speaker 1: was his wife, I was there, and then there's the
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  Speaker 1: person who would call the person of interest who was
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  Speaker 1: in the house. And then there was another witness who
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  Speaker 1: was also in the house, So there were a total
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  Speaker 1: who's the other witness? Who's the other witness? Is a neighbor,
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  Speaker 1: a friend, He was a friend, They all knew each other.
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  Speaker 1: His nickname is fat boy um, and he was in
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  Speaker 1: the house with Now you say there was a person
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  Speaker 1: of interest. Is that your estimation that it was a
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  Speaker 1: person of interest or of police said it was a
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  Speaker 1: person of interest. Well, um, it's both because the investigation
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  Speaker 1: itself from the police end turned from a suicide to
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  Speaker 1: a homicide. And this is the same person that I
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  Speaker 1: spoke that I investigated where the two witnesses saw him
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  Speaker 1: with the shotgun in his hand and taking it over
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  Speaker 1: to DJ. So he's very much a person of interest. Well,
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  Speaker 1: how is he connected? Is he a friend? A cousin partygoer.
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  Speaker 1: What is he? Who is he? He's a friend in
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  Speaker 1: the partygoerd. They all hung out together and he was
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  Speaker 1: one of the ones who was in the house weave. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: So what I'm understanding from private investigator Eric Eccles, hired
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  Speaker 1: by the family. They're all in the home, the victim
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  Speaker 1: is sitting on the sofa, the wife is there. You've
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  Speaker 1: got a friend aka fat boy, and you've got the
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  Speaker 1: person of interest who is also a friend to Doctor
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: Brian Russell, psychologist joining me, host of the hit series
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: Fatal Vows, and author of Stop Moaning, Start Owning on Amazon.
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  Speaker 1: Doctor Brian, you know the old phrase familiarity breeds contempt.
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  Speaker 1: What do you make of it? I don't think we know,
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  Speaker 1: and I think this is why I'm with you. I'm
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  Speaker 1: glad that they hired a PI to look into it,
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  Speaker 1: because there just doesn't seem to be the classic setup
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  Speaker 1: that we expect in a suicide case. We don't usually
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  Speaker 1: expect in a suicide case to have the questions raised,
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  Speaker 1: the number of questions raised that had been raised here. Well,
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  Speaker 1: you're absolutely right. I'm fixing to drop a bombshell and
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  Speaker 1: the whole thing listen. My brother was right handed and
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  Speaker 1: he was shot in the left cheek. A private investigator
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  Speaker 1: hired by the family agreed if he would have had
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  Speaker 1: to be sitting down and hold a shotgun like this,
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  Speaker 1: DJ's mother adamantly rejected the idea that her son had
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  Speaker 1: taken his own life. He did not have suicide on
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  Speaker 1: his mind. He was texting her up until the time
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  Speaker 1: he got shot. Mom come get me. I don't feel safe.
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  Speaker 1: It wasn't Mom, I'm gonna take And when he was questioned,
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  Speaker 1: the roommate gave police conflicting accounts of what actually happened.
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  Speaker 1: He changed his story three to four times crime stories
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  Speaker 1: with Nancy Grace. Besides the roommate, there were two other
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  Speaker 1: people in the trailer when the gun went off, DJ's wife, Brandy,
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  Speaker 1: and also a man who was a friend of the roommate.
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  Speaker 1: The man told police he heard a tense exchange between
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  Speaker 1: DJ and the roommate before the gun went off. Brandy
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  Speaker 1: couldn't confirm that. She said she was too distraught to
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  Speaker 1: even give a statement, but there were suspicious hints of
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  Speaker 1: the cover up. You don't have to be a genius
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  Speaker 1: to look at crime sing photos and see a brand
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  Speaker 1: new bottle of bleach sitting where someone supposedly just took
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  Speaker 1: their life a bottle of bleach. You're hearing from our
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: friends at Investigation Discovery, and we were talking about a
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  Speaker 1: young man just twenty seven years old and the prime
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  Speaker 1: of his life, Donald nicknamed DJ Fickey, shot dead at
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  Speaker 1: a party there in the home. There's too much conflicting evidence.
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  Speaker 1: I'll tell you one thing. When I don't know anything
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  Speaker 1: else about the chaos of a crime scene, everybody's talking
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  Speaker 1: at once, nothing makes sense. I go to this ballistics,
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  Speaker 1: hard evidence, physical evidence that nobody, no matter what they say,
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  Speaker 1: can refute. I know that Dj was right handed. I
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  Speaker 1: know for a fact that he was shot with a
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  Speaker 1: long gun, a shotgun. I know that the entry wound
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  Speaker 1: was to his left cheek. Think about it, a long gun.
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  Speaker 1: You're right handed. How are you going to hold a
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  Speaker 1: long gun up to your cheek? And there was no
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  Speaker 1: crazy rigging like you see on movies where somebody pulls
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  Speaker 1: a string with their toe and shoots themselves. No, according
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  Speaker 1: to what cops say, happened a suicide, he was holding it.
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  Speaker 1: But that doesn't make sense. How can you hold a
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  Speaker 1: long gun two in your right handed to your left
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  Speaker 1: cheek and pull. You cannot do it and pull the
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  Speaker 1: trigger on a shotgun. It just doesn't make sense to me. Now,
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  Speaker 1: before I get deep, deep, deep into the forensics, I
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  Speaker 1: want to talk to someone who I have really wanted
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  Speaker 1: to speak with. Amanda. Surely this is DJ's sister. I've
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  Speaker 1: got a brother and I've got a sister, and they
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  Speaker 1: are two of the closest people in the world to me.
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  Speaker 1: Amanda has never given up on this. Amanda, tell me
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  Speaker 1: what happened the night that DJ was shot. Well, mane
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  Speaker 1: d like you heard in the investigation discovery. So DJ
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  Speaker 1: was actually checking our mom, begging her for a ride
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  Speaker 1: out of the situation. He made statements that he was
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  Speaker 1: going to end up bed there if he didn't get
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  Speaker 1: out of there, that his life depended on it, That
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  Speaker 1: him and a person of interest had been arguing, and
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  Speaker 1: I'll give you a bob dropper, the person of interest
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  Speaker 1: was having an affair with DJ's wife. So that's what
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  Speaker 1: we believe the motive was. But we knew as soon
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  Speaker 1: as we got the call that it wasn't a suicide.
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  Speaker 1: We knew it wasn't a suicide. With me is DJ's sister,
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  Speaker 1: Amanda and from what I know, I agree with her
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  Speaker 1: or listen to our friends at investigation discovery. It escalated
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  Speaker 1: when Brandy and the roommate began having an affair. She
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  Speaker 1: would have been unfaithful. DJ still wanted to fix things
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  Speaker 1: with his wife, so he continued to visit Brandy, but
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  Speaker 1: when he did, the roommate was often violent. The roommate
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  Speaker 1: actually putted a knife to his throat and attacked him
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  Speaker 1: with a golf club, and my brother grabbed bat and
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  Speaker 1: they were fighting each other with that. Eventually, DJ got
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  Speaker 1: fed up. On October third, twenty sixteen, he went to
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  Speaker 1: the trailer home in Flintstone, Georgia, where his wife was
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: staying with the roommate, begging her to leave, but things
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  Speaker 1: quickly got heated. DJ texted his mom telling her that
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  Speaker 1: he was fighting with the roommate and things right of hand.
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  Speaker 1: He was tasting me and ten, Mom, if you don't
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  Speaker 1: come and get me, I'm gonna die here. Three minutes later,
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  Speaker 1: the roommate called nine one. DJ had been shot in
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  Speaker 1: the face. You know, I'm still back to those forensics.
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  Speaker 1: But what you're hearing right now is it DJ's wife
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  Speaker 1: allegedly was having a sex affair with the person of
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  Speaker 1: interest straight back to Eric Eccle's private investigator hired by
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  Speaker 1: the family. Eric, what do we know about that? Well,
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  Speaker 1: it's true. I tracked it down and I spoke to her.
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  Speaker 1: She admitted to it. They did have a relationship in
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  Speaker 1: the past, but she wanted to be with DJ. What
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  Speaker 1: do you believe happened that night? Eric, Well, Um, based
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: on the investigation and based on everything that I've gathered,
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  Speaker 1: this is what I believe happened. Brandy and DJ got
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: into an argument. The person of interest got tired at
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: them fighting and getting into arguments. He came out with
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  Speaker 1: the shotgun to threaten or to scare DJ. DJ is
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: sitting on the couch. He held the shotgun down because
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: he's standing up and again he's he's threatening DJ or
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  Speaker 1: trying to make him afraid, and the shotgun goes off,
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  Speaker 1: shooting DJ and the downward motion, downward motion and the
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: left side of his face. That's what happened. Let's take
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: a listen to more of that nine on one call.
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  Speaker 1: Where's he at? I don't know. You don't have the
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: house and a car. He's in a room. So he
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: went be aired in the front doors, sharing the bread
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: door room. Yes, all right, he's just hitting in a chair.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: He's right, hey Jake, oh j Yeah, it's fave Gate. Okay,
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: y'all know, yeah, is he bringing those? Because he moving
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: it a look. I tried to dry the gun. Brother.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: He when you please, Wow, you're hearing more than nine
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  Speaker 1: one one call. Everything is chaotic. It's hard for the
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  Speaker 1: nine on one dispatcher to get any information to Dave
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: with me Crime online dot Com investigative reporter. Who is Mike?
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: The person that is talking, man says, my name is Mike.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: Who's Mike? He is the person of interest, the person
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  Speaker 1: that's often referred to as the roommate. And as you
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  Speaker 1: can hear or throughout this conversation, he was allegedly having
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: a sexual relationship with DJ's wife. Man, this is I
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: don't understand how this thing went from a homicide investigation
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  Speaker 1: to a suicide investigation. Eric eccles, how has this been
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: determined to be a suicide? Well, I think it went
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: suicide because the police did a shouting investigation. They had
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: in their mind when they arrived to the scene that
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: they were believing that it was a suicide based on
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: the call. And when you listen to a future nine
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: one one calls. It was it was about. It was
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: messed up from the beginning because the nine one one
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: caller told him to tamper with the crimes. I think
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: I know what you're talking about. Take a listen to this.
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  Speaker 1: Oh my, Mike, Mike hear me. Yes, this this is
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: Walker Canny down one one. Okay, Okay, Mike, listen to me. Okay, Okay, Mike,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: I need to talk to you. Can you give me
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: your attention? Okay? The gun? Where is it located? Now?
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: That couldn't cheer with? Okay, I've got the gun and
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: see what it was. It was at twelve grade? Okay,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: So you moved the gun? Is that correct? Yes? Okay?
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: Can you secure that gun? Can you get it unloaded
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: safely and lay it to the side out of the
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: way Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. The gun that dj
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: Sicky was shot with belonged to the men who was
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: having an affair with his wife, but the police never
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: did any tests on the gun. For gun the self
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: wasn't forensically tested. There was an old fingerprints testing on it,
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Djay's family says. The police also ignored the fact that
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: it looked like someone had tried to clean things up
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: the crime scene. Phot was indicated that they cleaned the
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: crime scene prior to the police arriving. There was a basket,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: a trash basket, and on top of that trash basket
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: was a white towel full of blood. The family was frustrated.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: We know this wasn't a suicide. We know it wasn't
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: a suicide. Everything changed when DJ's wife, Brandy, suddenly announced
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: that she did want to give a statement, and she
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: dropped a bombshell. She said the police were wrong. Her
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: husband's death was definitely murdered, knocked suicide. She followed the
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: roommate come out of a bedroom behind my brother with
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: a shotgun. Brandy filled, the roommate actually killed my brother. Okay,
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: this is almost more than I can take. You're hearing
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: our friends over at ID. So the ballistics are consistent
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: with a homicide. You got a witness stating it was
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: a homicide. It is a person of interest gun and
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: we know he was directed to handle the gun after
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: the shooting by nine one one which I've never heard before.
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  Speaker 1: But also evidence of a cleanup. Daryl Cohen, we really
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: need your help. When a family strongly disagrees with an investigation,
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: What is their recourse? What can they do? Well, obviously
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: the GBI was called in. Obviously the family did exactly
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: what they should have done. They went ahead. They called
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: a private investigator to look at it, far more carefully
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: and more clearly than the police did. But this whole
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: scene was chaotic. I am concerned that it might have
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: been a homicide, might very well have been a suicide.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: But when you, Nancy, you pointed it out, the long gun,
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: wrong side in the hand, the face doesn't make sense.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: There's no lodging to that. So they've got to take
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: this long, long look and make sure they know exactly
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: as best they can't. But who who when you believe that?
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: I mean, look at Tera Grinstad for Pete's sake. Look
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: how long it took to put that case together. What
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: do they do? How do you go beyond the local
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: police or beyond the GBI to get justice. Well, I
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: think it's difficult to go beyond the GBI, because they're
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: known to be far more professional, and there may be justice.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: But let's look at it in another way, Nancy, this
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: family does not want this to be a suicide. I
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: wouldn't want my family member to commit a suicide. I
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: wouldn't want him or her to have killed themselves. So
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: the family has emotionally decided this was a murder, and
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: now they're trying to prove it forensically that this was
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: a murder. You keep this private investigator, if you have
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: the money to do it. Keep the private investigator looking up, down,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: and all around, and perhaps they will have some people
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: take a polygraph. White hold on just a minute, speaking
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: a polygraph, Daryl, I believe they've already run down that avenue.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: You listen. Investigators immediately asked the roommate to take a
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: polygraph test. The results indicated deceptive answers to two critical questions,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: Did you point the gun at DJ? And did you
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: shoot DJ? The roommate continued to insist that DJ shot himself,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: but after talking to him, two detectives told the district
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: attorney that DJ's death was a homicide. So you have
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: two people who were trained to look at all the
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: evidence came forward and said that, in their professional opinion,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: it was a homicide. Even then, the district attorney refused
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: to change the medical examiner's ruling that DJ's death was
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: a suicide. DJ's family believes it's because the DA doesn't
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: want to admit they made a mistake. Let me understand
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: this too. DJ's sister Amanda Shirley, Amanda, are you sure
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: that the roommate failed a polygraph? And the questions are
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: did you point the gun at DJ? Did you kill DJ? Yes?
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: He failed them and it wasn't just asked one time.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: They asked him about eight different times, both the same
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: exact questions, and he felt it each time. Okay, that
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: is damning. So, Darrell Cohen, your bright idea about getting
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: a polygraph was exactly correct. Yes, I'm eating a dirt sandwich.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: You're right. They did it, and according to them, the
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: roommate flunked. You know, I was so used to our
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: mutual district attorney, Darryl mister Slayton, and I've got to
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: sing his praises. He was like a grandfather to me.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: Some people said he was a cold fish. I didn't
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: think that you could say a lot about him. He
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: was the longest serving district attorney in the country at
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: the time, over thirty years, and I just don't believe
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: he would have refused to change a ruling in the
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: face of evidence. Darrell Cohen, it makes no sense to me.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: Assuming the polygraphs failed. Of course, you and I both
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: know it's not admissible, not the way it was provided
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: but administered. Well, wait, just don't throw that out there
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: like that, Daryl Cohen, because let's explain it about Okay,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: a polygraph is allowed in civil court. We'll just say
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: when OJ Simpson was sued for thirty million dollars. Okay,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: that's civil court, that's about money. In criminal court, in
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: a criminal case, a polygraph is not allowed into evidence
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: unless both parties stipulate it will be prior to the
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: polygraph being taken. Okay, So I don't think that was done.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: I think you're right, Daryl, Doctor Brian Russell, is that
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: your understanding of the law. Yes, And it's because of
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: reasonable doubt. You have to prove someone guilty beyond a
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: reasonable doubt to convictim of a crime. And even though
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: polygraphs actually have when they're done by a well trained,
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: experienced examiner, they actually have a high accuracy rate, it
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: still is not enough to get past that reasonable doubt. Yeah,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: it's got to be tested. Polygraphs. While I believe in
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: them for the most part, they're not like a fingerprint
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: or DNA that you can prove inconclusively because there are
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: ways to be to polygraph. I think it's very difficult,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: but there are ways to do it. I'm just having
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: a hard time understanding this to Amanda. Surely this is
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: DJ's sister. You really believe the DA won't reverse and
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: go back to homicide because he doesn't want to admit
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: the medical examiner was wrong. It's just not the DA
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: that doesn't want to admit that the police force messed
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: up the investigation from the beginning. The GBI will not.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: They won't, they won't change any ruling. And I'll actually
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: tell you what happened, Nancy. They did a toxicology report
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: on DJ, and when the revolt came back from the
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: toxicology report, the medical examiner stated that she wasn't going
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: to change the cause of death because the bolt was
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: found in his system was a stimulant, and then with
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: that stimulant in his system, he should have been able
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: to defend himself. Okay, I gotta say that's bad. So
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: let me speak to you, Matt Crime online dot Com
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: investigative reporter. With all of this evidence, it's really difficult
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: for me to believe a district attorney would not change
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: the ruling. Now, I've been wrong about a district attorney
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: one time before, and I'll just put it out. There
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: was the Dute Lacrosse case. Remember that, Because you had
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: the victims saying I was rape, you had a rape
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: kit nurse saying looks like the victim has been raped,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: and you had the district attorney coming out with all
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: this evidence indicating a rape at a frat party. Well,
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: of course, you know, prosecutors across the country believe the
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: woman had been raped. Why would we think the district
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: attorney was making the whole thing up. Well, as it
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: turned out, he was, so once in a blue moon,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: you have an incident like that. But I just I
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: feel like I'm missing part of the puzzle. Dave Matt
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: Why would the DA not reverse Nancy because of what
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: it's gonna do. It's gonna call into question everything that
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: went on in this case. When they do have the
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: DA has the GB flat out stating Nope, it's a
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: suicide and we're not going to reverse it. Now, there
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: were two Walker County detectives that said, now we believe
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: that this is a homicide. But again, now it goes
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: back to challenging professional integrity here as you heard on
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: the nine one one calls in the different things we've
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: discussed on that crime scene, you know, not testing anybody
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: for gunshot residue, not even testing DJ. Crime stories with
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: Nancy Grace. Amanda Shirley says her brother DJ Thickley was
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: a father to three young children. She says they were
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: his world. In October twenty sixteen, he died. The Walker
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: County Sheriff's Office ruled it a suicide by a shotgun.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: The GBI agreed, but after the GBI ruled on a
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: cause of death, the Walker County Sheriff's Office changed its
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: investigation to possible homicide. Detectives found there were inconsistencies with
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: a person of interest who called nine one one. In
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: the nine one one call obtained by Channel two Action News,
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: the person of interest tells the operator there's a guy
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: that shot himself. A polygraph test would later suggest that
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: person of interest lied about his role. Also, in another
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: nine one one to call, the operator instructs the person
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: of interest to secure the weapon. Can you get it
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: unloaded safely and lay it to the side out of
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: the way. A private investigator the family hired to help
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: get the case reopened. Ses that cass major doubt you're
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: hearing our friend Lauren posing in action two news, Walker County, Georgia.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: It's located in the northwestern part of Georgia. How do
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: you go beyond local law enforcement? You go to the
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: Attorney General. You can call here's the number four zero
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: four six five six three thousand, repeat four zero four
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: six five six three thousand. I have a lot of
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: faith and the Georgia Attorney General. And that's because I
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: worked hand in hand with them as a prosecutor for
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: ten years. Whenever I would get a homicide a murder conviction,
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: they would always so SOP standard operating procedure, file what
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: is called an amicus cury brief, a friend of the court.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: When I would go up to the Georgia Supreme Court
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: to argue the appellate argument to hold the conviction, they
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: would be there too. They would have filed a partner
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: brief in addition to my brief to hold my case,
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: to hold the conviction. That's my impression of them. Am
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: I wrong? I don't think so. Could I be wrong, yes,
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: But that's where you go when you are not getting
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: justice with local police when you are not getting justice
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: with the GBI, you keep going up phone number four
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: or four six, five, six, three thousand. Listen to this Donald.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: Vicky Junior's death was ruled a suicide, but family members
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: believe it was a homicide. Vicky's death was called in
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: as a suicide on October third, twenty sixteenth. In a
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: letter to the hactives in the case, the district attorney says, quote,
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: while certain statements made by witnesses, when viewed in isolation,
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: would tend to indicate a homicide, the physical evidence and
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: other witness statements support a conclusion the death was a
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: suicide end quote. Bicky's sister says he always wants to
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: make people laugh and help out others. She says she
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: wants justice for her brother. I knew from the time
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: my mom called me it wasn't a suicide. We all
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: knew it wasn't a suicide. He was literally take thing
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: my mother when he was shot. Ficky's sister says one
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: of the reasons she will continue to fight for answers
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: is because of her brother's three children he left behind.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: GBI performed the autopsy but did not investigate the case.
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: The WAC County Sheriff's office, did Vicky died from a
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: gunshot wound to the head. You're hearing our friend Robin
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: Asteira at News twelve, And what I'm hearing from her
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: is while the GBI did conduct the autopsy, they were
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: not the ones to investigate the case. To Eric Eccles,
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: a well known private investigator hired by dj Ficky's family,
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: who exactly performed the investigation, the investigation by the police
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: department was before performed by Detective Ellenberg. The is that
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: Walker County Sheriffs or Lafayette Police or Comy Sheriff's Department
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: Detective Ellenberg who was who he admits he was inexperienced
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: to do these type of investigations. Guys, that is not
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: a badge of shame. It's the place you want to live.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: Where the homicide rate is so low. Local police don't
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: have to hone their skills on homicide. Homicide investigations are
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: difficult to perform, very difficult. I've done them from many
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: many years. It involves, for instance, some measuring with inches
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: the feet where each person was from the door, where
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: the gun was found, where the casing was ejected, where
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: it was found on the floor where their footprints in
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: the carpet. For Pete's take in this case, to you,
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: Eric eccles, you say, as a private investigator, there was
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: evidence of a cleanup. I know there was bleach right
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: beside where DJ was Bleach Why is that there? What
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: else do you believe supports the theory of a cleanup?
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: The blood splatter, let's talk about that. I mean there
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: was no testing of the blood slatter on the couch,
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: so I mean there was a lot of different things
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: that they did not do. The forensics on the gun.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: You talk about measurement. They didn't measure DJ's arms fan
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: to see if it was physically possible for him to
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: hold a shotgun on the left side of his face.
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: There was nothing done. Fingerprints on the trigger, fingerprints on
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: the gun. I can go on and on. They didn't
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: do anything. And for the DA to write a letter
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: to say that there was physical evidence to justify that
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: it was a suicide. What physical evidence is he talking about?
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: What physical evidence is he talking about too, Amanda, surely
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: this is DJ's sister. What is he talking about? I
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: have no idea, Nathy, there is They did no physical evidence.
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: They did not put crime a crime scene tape around
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: the crime scene itself. There was no evidence marking anything.
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: They showed up on the scene and marked it as suicide.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: From the day they showed up, we begged them to
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: bring GBI in because we knew they wasn't capable of
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: handling an invest you a homicide investigation. They told us
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: there was no need to bring GBIM to investigate this case. So,
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: while we've been talking about the GBI, let me let
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: me clarify the GBI did not do the investigation. Have you, Amanda,
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: contacted the GBI to reopen Walker County's investigation. Yes, we
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: have contacted them several times. Of Eric Eccles, private investigator,
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: actually went and had a three hour appointment with the
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: medical examiner and that's when she ordered the toxicology and
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: came back and says she was not changing her cause
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: of death. And you also spoke of contacting the state
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: Attorney the Attorney General's office. I've contacted them. I can't
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: get past the secretary, but they told me to contact
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: the Justice Department, that they didn't handle things like that.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: I call the Justice Department, they tell me to call
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: the Attorney General Office. You just get ran around in
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: circle I'm concerned. I'm very concerned. Daryl Coe and former
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: prosecutor now defense attorney, sounds to me like they're getting
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: the runaround. They need help. Where do you go when
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: you are hitting a wall? Where can they go with
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: this investigation? We'd go back to the DA. And we
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: need to remember that just because at this point the
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: District Attorney's office refuses to call it a homicide and
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: refuses to prosecute. They may be waiting to see if
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: our person of interest makes a slip. They may be
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: waiting before until such time as they believe they have
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: a case that they can prosecute and win, because it's
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: not worth it to them to prosecute a case and
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: not be able to win it. Okay, hold on, I
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: want to tell you a true story, Darryl Coe, And
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: you remember the murder of Julie Love in Atlanta, kindergarten
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: teacher that was out jogging and these guys chased her
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: or god or raped or killed her. At the time,
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: I was all over our elected DA to investigate and
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: indict the boyfriend. And he kept saying, no, no, I'm
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: gonna wait. Well he waited. I nearly passed out. He
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: waited a long time until the girlfriend of the real
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: killer was getting beaten up and she came to police
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: afraid she's going to be killed, and blurted out that
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: it was Emmanuel Hammonds that murdered Julie Love. I believe
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: well over a year had passed and sure enough the
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: district attorney was right. He was doing exactly what you
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: are saying. Guys. We are talking about the death of
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: a young man in the prime of his life, a
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: father of three, a brother, a son, Donald Ficky. I
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: want justice, do you, Because if you do, I implore
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: you to call the Attorney General's office four zero four
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: six to five six three thousand and to Amanda Shirley.
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: I'm happy to go with you to the Walker County
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: District Attorney's office. Guys, if you are hearing the voice
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: of Amanda Shirley, who was never given up on finding
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: the truth of her brother's death, put yourself in her shoes.
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: If you believe injustice, at least, let's see this thing through.
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: We wait as justice and foals. Nancy Grace Crime Story
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: signing off, goodbye friend,