Latest / NO FILTER / Cop recruits his mother to shoot pregnant ex in custody battle(MP3_160K)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: I'm Chris Hansen right now on Crime Watch Daily.
- 0:02Speaker 2: From here in New York.
- 0:12Speaker 1: A wild shootout in a fast food parking lot. The
- 0:15Speaker 1: target's newlyweds with a baby on the way.
- 0:18Speaker 2: She was shot seven months pregnant in her admint.
- 0:21Speaker 1: The crazed shooter caught fleeing the scene on surveillance video.
- 0:25Speaker 3: This is a mad gunman running around, but.
- 0:28Speaker 1: This isn't a random attack, and the suspect is a shot.
- 0:32Speaker 1: She's a grandma.
- 0:33Speaker 2: There was some inexplicable obsession today.
- 0:37Speaker 1: The killer granny and her police officer's son partners in
- 0:41Speaker 1: an evil crime.
- 0:42Speaker 3: Do you remember pulling the trigger?
- 0:44Speaker 1: In an exclusive jailhouse interview, the convicted killer is on
- 0:48Speaker 1: the hot seat with our Michelle sa Gunner.
- 0:50Speaker 4: I know all the evidence is there, but then.
- 0:53Speaker 1: It's a miracle she's alive. The Utah girl who survived
- 0:56Speaker 1: a senseless attack, why cops say two boys snaped over
- 1:00Speaker 1: her snapchat.
- 1:01Speaker 5: I am so thankful to be here today, to be.
- 1:04Speaker 6: Alive right now.
- 1:06Speaker 3: Andrea Isisen serve with Crimewatch Daily.
- 1:08Speaker 5: Jason Mattaro a Crime Watch Day This. I'm Elizabeth, I'm
- 1:11Speaker 5: here with Crimewatch and Michelle from Crime Watch Daily Anagarcia
- 1:15Speaker 5: from Crimewatch is crime Watch deal off?
- 1:18Speaker 7: We'll find you again, we always do.
- 1:21Speaker 1: Welcome to crime Watch Daily everyone, I'm Chris Hansen. First
- 1:27Speaker 1: up today. Gunfire in the parking lot of a fast
- 1:30Speaker 1: food restaurant. Two people are shot.
- 1:33Speaker 2: One will not survive.
- 1:34Speaker 1: Our Michelle should going to unravels the mystery of who
- 1:36Speaker 1: pulled the trigger and.
- 1:38Speaker 8: Why Mayhem at the mall in broad daylight.
- 1:43Speaker 9: It was chaos.
- 1:46Speaker 8: A spray bullets, ricochetane off cars parked near a McDonald's.
- 1:50Speaker 9: There's people and the drive through. Their cars were struck
- 1:53Speaker 9: by bullets, with.
- 1:55Speaker 8: The smell of gunpowder hanging in the air. Innocent people
- 1:59Speaker 8: narrowly escaping death.
- 2:01Speaker 2: Two children are both under ten, and one of these
- 2:03Speaker 2: children actually finds the bullet and says granddad, look here.
- 2:10Speaker 8: But two are about to be hunted like prey.
- 2:14Speaker 2: Robert died not knowing if his wife an unborn child
- 2:18Speaker 2: were still alive.
- 2:21Speaker 8: And the person firing the gun will shock you.
- 2:25Speaker 9: She identified the shoot her as you. Of being taken
- 2:27Speaker 9: to the hospital.
- 2:32Speaker 8: Wednesday night at the shopping mam Waldorf, Maryland, a middle
- 2:35Speaker 8: class suburb about thirty miles away from Washington, d C.
- 2:39Speaker 9: It was primetime hours.
- 2:42Speaker 8: Quietly sitting in their car in the mall parking lot.
- 2:45Speaker 8: Newly weds Crystal and Robert Mangi. Crystal is a devoted
- 2:49Speaker 8: mom to one child with Robert and one.
- 2:51Speaker 3: Of the way.
- 2:52Speaker 8: She also has two children from a previous relationship with
- 2:56Speaker 8: a man named Richard Conway, a respected cop who had
- 2:59Speaker 8: majority of custody of the children. The dad and his
- 3:02Speaker 8: kids live with grandma who watched the children when her
- 3:05Speaker 8: son worked. He had what ten days on four days off.
- 3:09Speaker 9: Correct, that's a lot.
- 3:11Speaker 3: Of custody for two young children to go to a father.
- 3:14Speaker 9: Yeah, Richard was the primary residence.
- 3:18Speaker 8: On that fateful day, Crystal and Robert are waiting in
- 3:21Speaker 8: the parking lot to pick up her kids as part
- 3:23Speaker 8: of the custody deal with her.
- 3:25Speaker 2: As they're sitting there, it's about five forty five. The
- 3:28Speaker 2: meeting place in the time is six o'clock and it's
- 3:31Speaker 2: been that for I don't know a year and a half
- 3:32Speaker 2: hover long. The first visitation schedule was set up, but.
- 3:37Speaker 8: The children never arrive and all hell is about to
- 3:41Speaker 8: break loose. Suddenly, bullets are flying through the crowded parking lot.
- 3:46Speaker 8: Frantic people run for safety, but Robert and Crystal are
- 3:51Speaker 8: city ducks.
- 3:52Speaker 9: One woman saw their shooter shoot Robert, come around the car,
- 3:57Speaker 9: shoot Crystal, and then return and shoot Robert again while
- 4:00Speaker 9: he's on the ground, and then walk away.
- 4:03Speaker 8: Were they the targets of an attempted carjacking, unarmed robbery?
- 4:07Speaker 8: Or was this something far more personal?
- 4:11Speaker 3: This is a like a mad gunman running around.
- 4:15Speaker 6: Yeah.
- 4:15Speaker 9: From the witnesses accounts, it seemed very calculated.
- 4:19Speaker 8: Crystal and Robert are blindsided when the craze shooter suddenly
- 4:23Speaker 8: jumps in the backseat.
- 4:24Speaker 2: At that point, Robert and Crystal look at each other.
- 4:28Speaker 2: They have this silent communication that one of them is
- 4:32Speaker 2: going to go for this gun.
- 4:33Speaker 3: This is within a matter of seconds.
- 4:35Speaker 8: Yes, but Robert can't get to the gun before the
- 4:38Speaker 8: shooter in the back seat opens fire.
- 4:41Speaker 2: Robert goes out the driver's side door and falls to
- 4:44Speaker 2: the pavement. He doesn't move, looks like he was hit
- 4:47Speaker 2: least one time while he was in the car. Getting
- 4:49Speaker 2: out of the car.
- 4:51Speaker 8: The attacker jumps out of the car, stands directly over
- 4:54Speaker 8: Robert like an assassin, pumping bullets into his chest, then
- 4:59Speaker 8: coldly walks around to the passenger side and shoots his
- 5:02Speaker 8: pregnant wife Crystal in this stomach.
- 5:05Speaker 2: She's hiding cowering on the other side, finds her, shoots
- 5:09Speaker 2: at her two or three times, hits her.
- 5:10Speaker 8: I think one time, looking across, said her husband from
- 5:14Speaker 8: under the jeep, Crystal could see he was fading away.
- 5:19Speaker 3: I mean, this is a woman who's seven months pregnant.
- 5:21Speaker 2: I can't imagine somebody going through that. She was literally
- 5:24Speaker 2: laying on one side of who was a jeep where
- 5:26Speaker 2: she got shot Robert, who was basically executed. On the
- 5:30Speaker 2: other side of the jeep, He's just laying there.
- 5:34Speaker 8: Emergency crews arrive and desperately try to save Robert. Tragically,
- 5:39Speaker 8: it's too late.
- 5:40Speaker 2: The emergency medical folks worked and worked and worked, but
- 5:44Speaker 2: from the very moment that he was there, they didn't
- 5:46Speaker 2: have a pulse or a heartbeat, but they worked on
- 5:49Speaker 2: trying to bring him back for about ten or fifteen minutes.
- 5:52Speaker 2: Robert died, not knowing if his wife an unborn child
- 5:56Speaker 2: were still alive.
- 5:58Speaker 8: The shooter flees, leaving behind death, destruction, but also an
- 6:03Speaker 8: unexpected eyewitness.
- 6:05Speaker 9: She identified the shooter as she was being taken to
- 6:07Speaker 9: the hospital.
- 6:09Speaker 8: That eyewitness, Crystal miraculously both she and her unborn baby
- 6:14Speaker 8: survived after Cristel took a bullet to the belly, and
- 6:18Speaker 8: the young mom knows exactly who shot them.
- 6:21Speaker 3: She was obviously rushed to the hospital as quickly as.
- 6:24Speaker 9: Possible correct and she even identified her shooter to police
- 6:29Speaker 9: officers who arrived at the scene.
- 6:32Speaker 8: So who does Crystal say shot her?
- 6:35Speaker 9: She says, it's my ex's mom, Caroline Conway. She's the
- 6:38Speaker 9: one who shot me.
- 6:41Speaker 3: That's right.
- 6:41Speaker 8: The shooter is her ex mother in law, Caroline Conway.
- 6:45Speaker 8: But why would Caroline, as seemingly sweet grandmother, want to
- 6:49Speaker 8: rub out the mother of her own grandchildren.
- 6:52Speaker 2: There was some inexplicable obsession on the part of Caroline Conway,
- 6:59Speaker 2: one of those children with her.
- 7:01Speaker 8: Cops are about to learn Caroline Conway's son is their
- 7:04Speaker 8: brother in blue, an officer of the law. Did she
- 7:07Speaker 8: use a service weapon? Coming up our exclusive interview with
- 7:12Speaker 8: Caroline Conway from behind Bars, the big question what on
- 7:16Speaker 8: earth would drive a grandmother to shoot her pregnant ex
- 7:19Speaker 8: daughter in law and new husband.
- 7:23Speaker 1: A shooting in a parking lot has left one man dead.
- 7:26Speaker 1: His pregnant wife has also been shot in the stomach,
- 7:29Speaker 1: but somehow survives and on her way to the hospital,
- 7:32Speaker 1: she's able to whisper the name of the person who
- 7:34Speaker 1: pulled the trigger.
- 7:35Speaker 2: It's a shocker.
- 7:36Speaker 1: Let's head back to Michelle Sagona in Maryland with the details.
- 7:41Speaker 8: On ambush unfolds in a mall parking lot. A crazed
- 7:44Speaker 8: gun toting killer seems to be on the loose.
- 7:47Speaker 2: People are terrified they're fleeing.
- 7:49Speaker 8: But this is no random shooting. The targets are newlyweds
- 7:53Speaker 8: Krystal and Robert Nji. The attacker assassinates Robert, shooting him
- 7:57Speaker 8: several times in the chest, then pumps a bullet into
- 8:00Speaker 8: Crystal's belly, who's carrying a baby.
- 8:02Speaker 2: She was shut seven months pregnant in her admitry.
- 8:07Speaker 8: Tragically, Robert died at the scene, but Crystal and her
- 8:11Speaker 8: unborn baby survive as paramedics take her to the hospital.
- 8:14Speaker 8: Crystal identifies the cold blooded killer and it's a shocker.
- 8:18Speaker 8: The shooter is Crystal's ex mother in law, Caroline Conway.
- 8:23Speaker 2: Crystal liveth for a couple of years, so she obviously
- 8:25Speaker 2: knows who it is, knows the voice and everything.
- 8:27Speaker 8: Uninjured and hysterical, Crystal is also able to give investigators
- 8:31Speaker 8: even more like the address where the fifty three year
- 8:34Speaker 8: old grandmother lives along with her son. A patrol officer
- 8:37Speaker 8: with the Prince George's County Police.
- 8:39Speaker 2: Department Sheriff's Office went directly to the house and they
- 8:42Speaker 2: set up a perimeter.
- 8:43Speaker 9: They had the Emergency Services team, which is basically a
- 8:47Speaker 9: spot team. They were geared up and at the Conway's house,
- 8:52Speaker 9: but when.
- 8:52Speaker 8: They descend on the house, Caroline is nowhere to be found,
- 8:56Speaker 8: and neither is her son, Richard, So there was an
- 8:58Speaker 8: all out search to find this mother and son.
- 9:01Speaker 6: Correct.
- 9:02Speaker 8: What cops do soon locate is this surveillance video from
- 9:05Speaker 8: near the mall parking lot in the moments after the
- 9:08Speaker 8: murder spree. It shows the grandma casually walking away from
- 9:13Speaker 8: the terror zone.
- 9:14Speaker 2: She crosses that highway, she crosses right at a Dunkin
- 9:17Speaker 2: Donuts and gas station, and.
- 9:20Speaker 8: At this point Grandma's getaway plan takes action. Investigators say
- 9:24Speaker 8: there is a video over son Richard's circling the parking lot.
- 9:27Speaker 8: Cops clean Caroline scene here moments after the shootings, calls
- 9:32Speaker 8: him from a burner phone, a prepaid thrown away phone
- 9:35Speaker 8: that can be difficult for police to trace. She uses
- 9:38Speaker 8: it to tell Richard to pick her up. From there,
- 9:41Speaker 8: they go to the house of some family friends, the Gaels.
- 9:44Speaker 8: Their police say, Caroline changes her shirt.
- 9:46Speaker 10: So Richard receives these phone calls, picks up his mother.
- 9:51Speaker 2: They go to the Gael's house. It's a family about
- 9:55Speaker 2: fifteen twenty minutes away. She takes a shirt from their
- 9:59Speaker 2: house and puts that shirt on, which I believe it
- 10:02Speaker 2: was yellow.
- 10:03Speaker 8: But the quick change would soon become attempted buried evidence.
- 10:08Speaker 2: Richard is seen putting the gun and the clothes in
- 10:12Speaker 2: a trash bag. You can't necessarily make out a gun
- 10:15Speaker 2: on the video, but the Gaels tell you that's what
- 10:18Speaker 2: was there.
- 10:18Speaker 3: Did they confide in the Gals.
- 10:20Speaker 2: Caroline when she got there, first thing out of her
- 10:22Speaker 2: mouth was I shot him. I shot him both. She
- 10:24Speaker 2: said that to.
- 10:25Speaker 3: Mom and they have no idea what she's talking about.
- 10:28Speaker 2: That's what they said, yeah, and she said she shot him.
- 10:31Speaker 8: Investigators find more damning surveillance video here. Caroline can be
- 10:35Speaker 8: seen wearing what looks like a yellow shirt getting into
- 10:38Speaker 8: a car with their son and two kids. Detectives say
- 10:41Speaker 8: after leaving the Gael's house, they head to Laplata, the
- 10:44Speaker 8: next location in the duo's twisted plan.
- 10:48Speaker 3: Where were they.
- 10:50Speaker 9: They were attending to live out the alibi that Caroline
- 10:54Speaker 9: had set up for them, which was when Caroline got
- 10:57Speaker 9: into the car and put them put Chris like gunpoint.
- 11:00Speaker 9: She forced her to call Richard to change the custody
- 11:03Speaker 9: drop off to seven point thirty at the well played
- 11:06Speaker 9: at courthouse, which was, you know, hours after she was
- 11:11Speaker 9: supposed to be at the McDonald's.
- 11:13Speaker 8: Caroline and Richard thought their ruse was air tight, the
- 11:17Speaker 8: plan to meet Crystal at the courthouse, as if they
- 11:20Speaker 8: didn't know she was dead. But there's one small hitch.
- 11:25Speaker 2: They don't know that Crystal is alive. They just don't know,
- 11:29Speaker 2: so they can say that Caroline didn't make it to
- 11:32Speaker 2: the McDonald's. The phone records would show that she didn't
- 11:36Speaker 2: go over to the McDonald's. But Crystal Maine is alive,
- 11:39Speaker 2: she can identify her.
- 11:41Speaker 8: But for some reason, they never make it to the
- 11:43Speaker 8: courthouse where the handover for the kids was supposed to
- 11:46Speaker 8: take place, and go to a Target store instead.
- 11:50Speaker 3: Where does she go in the target?
- 11:52Speaker 2: They just went into the bathroom, then left and went home.
- 11:56Speaker 8: But Home Sweet Home is anything but it's now sworn
- 12:00Speaker 8: with cops. The neighborhood completely cordoned off with yellow crime
- 12:04Speaker 8: scene tape.
- 12:05Speaker 9: When they arrived, they were in the crowd of onlookers,
- 12:09Speaker 9: so the police have blocked off this section of the street.
- 12:14Speaker 8: Richard and his mom joined the neighborhood onlookers, trying to
- 12:17Speaker 8: blend in, acting like they have no idea what's going on. Well,
- 12:22Speaker 8: while standing in the crowd, Richard gets a call from
- 12:25Speaker 8: his supervisors. They want to talk to him.
- 12:28Speaker 3: There's a problem.
- 12:29Speaker 2: There's a problem. He's been getting calls and texts and
- 12:32Speaker 2: he's been ignoring them. He finally answers the phone and
- 12:36Speaker 2: the officer says, where are you. He goes why, He
- 12:38Speaker 2: goes Charles Kin, sheriffs Office needs to talk to you.
- 12:40Speaker 2: But Richard finally goes ahead and goes over to the
- 12:43Speaker 2: sheriff's officer and says, Hey, I'm Richard Conway. I'm told
- 12:46Speaker 2: I need to make contact with you. They ask him,
- 12:48Speaker 2: where's your mother, and he says, oh, she's right over there,
- 12:52Speaker 2: and she's standing over there in the crowd as well,
- 12:54Speaker 2: just standing.
- 12:55Speaker 10: There as if she were like waiting to get to
- 12:57Speaker 10: her home, as if nothing was happening.
- 13:00Speaker 8: But something was definitely happening. Caroline is immediately arrested on
- 13:06Speaker 8: the spot and Richard is brought in for questioning.
- 13:09Speaker 3: Is a cooperative Yes?
- 13:11Speaker 2: Yes.
- 13:12Speaker 8: At the police station, both Caroline and Richard sing like birds,
- 13:16Speaker 8: talking for hours to detectives, even without a lawyer present.
- 13:21Speaker 8: Why as a police officer would you do that?
- 13:26Speaker 9: I guess he was trying to clear his name, you know,
- 13:28Speaker 9: he thought he could talk his way out of it.
- 13:31Speaker 3: What about Caroline Conway? Is she cooperative to.
- 13:33Speaker 2: A certain certain degree? I mean if by cooperative he
- 13:36Speaker 2: meant that she gave a statement. Yeah, she gave a statement.
- 13:38Speaker 2: So they tell the same story at first, the same
- 13:41Speaker 2: story of with the kids driving around looking at homes.
- 13:45Speaker 2: That's that's what they're saying. That the timeframe was, and
- 13:48Speaker 2: that the call, the call from Crystal, that changed the location.
- 13:52Speaker 3: Place because they say they were out just driving around.
- 13:55Speaker 2: Right around, looking at houses.
- 13:57Speaker 8: But cops weren't buying her story, and investigators had enough
- 14:01Speaker 8: evidence to hold Caroline in jail, charging her with first
- 14:05Speaker 8: degree murder. Richard was released, but it wasn't long before
- 14:08Speaker 8: Prince George's County police came back knocking on his door,
- 14:12Speaker 8: puffing him after they receive a phone call and video
- 14:15Speaker 8: from the Conway's friends.
- 14:18Speaker 9: Two old family friends came forward and told police that
- 14:23Speaker 9: the Conways had actually come by their house after shooting.
- 14:26Speaker 9: They're captured on home surveillance video and they're both seen
- 14:30Speaker 9: handling a white trash bag and the man who owned
- 14:33Speaker 9: the house he said that he saw a gun in there.
- 14:35Speaker 8: Now son and mother faced murder charges.
- 14:38Speaker 3: She says, I have amnesia, yeah, and.
- 14:41Speaker 8: An eyewitness who they thought was dead, it was very
- 14:43Speaker 8: much alive. Next from behind bars, Caroline Conway tells her
- 14:48Speaker 8: story exclusively to Crime Watch Daily.
- 14:51Speaker 4: I'm the closest thing they have me indented everything together,
- 14:55Speaker 4: like if I raise my own children.
- 14:56Speaker 8: And just wait till you hear why she wanted her
- 14:58Speaker 8: ex daughter in law dead.
- 15:00Speaker 3: Do you remember pulling the trigger?
- 15:05Speaker 1: What would cause grandmother Caroline Conway to snap? Well, today,
- 15:10Speaker 1: she says she has a good reason why she opened
- 15:13Speaker 1: fire on the mother of her grandchild and her new husband.
- 15:16Speaker 1: Once again, here's Michelle Sagun.
- 15:18Speaker 8: Chris Today in a Crime Watch Daily exclusive, Caroline Conway
- 15:22Speaker 8: is breaking her silence to me from behind bars for
- 15:25Speaker 8: the very first time about her case. A young mother,
- 15:30Speaker 8: Crystal Mangi and her husband Robert are gunned down in
- 15:33Speaker 8: a busy parking lot in broad daylight. Unbelievably, the shooter
- 15:38Speaker 8: is Crystal's own ex mother in law.
- 15:41Speaker 10: We're here today in the Charles County Detention Center. You
- 15:43Speaker 10: have agreed to sit down with Crime Watch Daily to
- 15:46Speaker 10: tell your side of the story. Why is this important
- 15:48Speaker 10: to you?
- 15:50Speaker 4: Because I need people to know what happened to truth.
- 15:53Speaker 8: Now, in an exclusive jail house interview, that shooter, Caroline Conway,
- 15:57Speaker 8: is talking publicly about that terrible day for the first time.
- 16:01Speaker 10: So as far as the actual shooting, do you take
- 16:04Speaker 10: responsibility for that?
- 16:06Speaker 4: I know they said it happened, and I know the
- 16:11Speaker 4: evidence says that I did it, but I don't remember it.
- 16:15Speaker 3: And so you're saying to me here today you do
- 16:17Speaker 3: not remember?
- 16:18Speaker 4: No, man, I do.
- 16:19Speaker 8: No, she doesn't remember. This is the same woman who
- 16:23Speaker 8: used a burner phone and arranged for a pickup with
- 16:26Speaker 8: her son just moments after shooting her ex daughter in
- 16:29Speaker 8: law and her new husband.
- 16:31Speaker 2: Let's be real for just a second here, Okay. I mean,
- 16:35Speaker 2: there's no question, there's no question in anybody's mind the
- 16:39Speaker 2: Caroline Conway jumped in that jeep and end up shooting
- 16:41Speaker 2: those two people.
- 16:42Speaker 8: There's none but Conway's attorneys say there's no way anyone
- 16:46Speaker 8: in their right mind would have designed such a flawed
- 16:49Speaker 8: murder blueprint.
- 16:51Speaker 2: This is not the not the mind of the same
- 16:53Speaker 2: person at all that would literally think not only could
- 16:55Speaker 2: you commit a shooting in broad daylight with no mask on,
- 16:58Speaker 2: but that you would walk away from it afterwards.
- 17:00Speaker 8: She claims the shooting is a blur, But Caroline Conway
- 17:03Speaker 8: is crystal clear on what triggered her murderous rage, and
- 17:07Speaker 8: it's a shocker.
- 17:08Speaker 3: We believe your grandchildren are still in trouble today. I
- 17:11Speaker 3: believe they're with their molesters still today.
- 17:13Speaker 8: Yes, yes, you heard her right. Caroline Conway is now
- 17:18Speaker 8: claiming she thought her grandchildren were molested while staying at
- 17:22Speaker 8: their mother's homes.
- 17:23Speaker 3: Do you believe that? Why?
- 17:25Speaker 4: Because my grandson told me and we have evidence.
- 17:29Speaker 8: Crime Watch Daily reached out to the Virginia Department of
- 17:32Speaker 8: Social Services and they issued this statement in part, the
- 17:35Speaker 8: only circumstances under which VDSS would be able to share
- 17:39Speaker 8: information around an investigation would be in the case of
- 17:42Speaker 8: a child fatality. We do not have records of any
- 17:46Speaker 8: of those individuals being investigated under that particular criteria. But
- 17:51Speaker 8: prosecutors taken one step further, claiming the grandmother was grasping
- 17:55Speaker 8: for straws, looking for a defense.
- 17:57Speaker 3: Evidence shows what well, The evidence shows us no abuse.
- 18:02Speaker 2: The charges that were were leveled, the allegations were found
- 18:05Speaker 2: to be what they call unfounded. She just kept ratching up,
- 18:09Speaker 2: ratching it up. I'll say this, see if this works.
- 18:11Speaker 2: I'll say something worse. See if that works. I'll say
- 18:13Speaker 2: something even worse and see if that works.
- 18:16Speaker 8: But Conway insists a friend of Robert and Crystal, a
- 18:20Speaker 8: man named Montana nicknamed Tanna, was sexually abusing the children,
- 18:24Speaker 8: even though she had no evidence to prove it.
- 18:27Speaker 4: My grandson with shorten signs of being molested. He started
- 18:33Speaker 4: telling me things.
- 18:34Speaker 11: He confided in her more than anybody else. So when
- 18:39Speaker 11: he told her, Caroline, ya yad to him, he says,
- 18:42Speaker 11: ya yat, these things are happening to me. She believed him.
- 18:47Speaker 8: Caroline also claimed that when her grandchildren returned from their
- 18:50Speaker 8: mother's house, they were filthy and showed signs of neglect.
- 18:54Speaker 4: Then Greasie came back with they bloodstained panthers, bloodstained pampers,
- 19:02Speaker 4: raw pampers, like it was all raw, like I don't
- 19:05Speaker 4: know it was just really bad. When we took it
- 19:07Speaker 4: to a doctor, he was like, it could be a
- 19:10Speaker 4: bad rash.
- 19:11Speaker 8: In fact, Caroline's lawyer claims one of the reasons she
- 19:15Speaker 8: snapped came when Grandma was flooded with her own bad memories.
- 19:19Speaker 11: This crime, and as far as I'm concerned, it goes
- 19:21Speaker 11: back years and years and years, some fifty years to
- 19:24Speaker 11: when she was a small child.
- 19:26Speaker 8: Defense attorney James Farmer says, Caroline claims she was the
- 19:29Speaker 8: victim of horrible sex crimes as a child.
- 19:32Speaker 11: When Caroline was two years old, some friends would sexually
- 19:36Speaker 11: abuse and ripe Caroline. It's something that she has suppressed.
- 19:40Speaker 11: She gets suppressed for decades. That did not come up
- 19:43Speaker 11: even in her twenty thirty year relationship with her husband.
- 19:46Speaker 10: Did Caroline Conway ever admit to actually pulling the trigger.
- 19:51Speaker 11: She did not because of her psychological disorders. She does
- 19:56Speaker 11: not have a concrete memory and.
- 19:58Speaker 8: Not remembering what happen and is just one defense Conway's
- 20:02Speaker 8: attorney took to the jurors. Both Caroline and Richard Conway
- 20:05Speaker 8: face separate trials on murder charges.
- 20:08Speaker 11: She does not remember squeezing the trigger.
- 20:13Speaker 8: The prosecution says memory loss is a crack poth theory,
- 20:16Speaker 8: and that Caroline and her son simply wanted Crystal out
- 20:19Speaker 8: of the picture so they could have full custody.
- 20:22Speaker 2: Then come up with any other mode that they want to.
- 20:24Speaker 2: But that was the real motive behind this.
- 20:27Speaker 8: They wanted the children with them all the time, exactly
- 20:31Speaker 8: In court, attorneys picked apart the case. Like Crow's, the
- 20:35Speaker 8: defense honed in on text messages between Crystal and Montana.
- 20:39Speaker 8: They see the tech show. Montana lived in the home
- 20:41Speaker 8: with the couple and therefore had access to the kids
- 20:45Speaker 8: and so and this child, this young child alleges that
- 20:50Speaker 8: Montana and was in fact the person who may have
- 20:53Speaker 8: been allegedly touching him.
- 20:54Speaker 2: That's right.
- 20:56Speaker 8: The state investigation never found any sexual abuse in Crystal's
- 20:59Speaker 8: home and Montana was totally cleared. The prosecution argued they
- 21:04Speaker 8: could point to premeditated murder. First, the burner phone that
- 21:07Speaker 8: Caroline used to call her son after the shooting was
- 21:11Speaker 8: purchased about a month before the incident.
- 21:13Speaker 2: Richard got a young man at sixteen seventeen years old,
- 21:17Speaker 2: I think it was at the time. He gave him
- 21:18Speaker 2: some ridiculous story about he needed a burner phone because
- 21:22Speaker 2: the police officer he was working this huge narcotics case
- 21:26Speaker 2: with some New Yorkers, and he didn't want to use
- 21:28Speaker 2: his own phone, and Richard drove him over to the
- 21:31Speaker 2: Walmart and symplicated there with cash. He got the phone,
- 21:33Speaker 2: brought it back out, gave it to Richard and that
- 21:35Speaker 2: was that. And that was the phone that Caroline used
- 21:39Speaker 2: as she's walking away from the scene to call Richard
- 21:42Speaker 2: twice in order to pick her up.
- 21:45Speaker 3: Those phone records match absolutely.
- 21:47Speaker 8: Also under the microscope damning surveillance tape.
- 21:51Speaker 10: How important will all the video elements in this case
- 21:55Speaker 10: for you?
- 21:56Speaker 2: They're critical one. You know, video corroborates people's testimony, and
- 22:02Speaker 2: Crystal's testimony was corroborated because the video from the Gail's
- 22:05Speaker 2: house is extremely important.
- 22:07Speaker 8: Remember the Gails were the Conway's friends who gave detective
- 22:10Speaker 8: surveillance footage showing Richard trying to discard the weapon used
- 22:14Speaker 8: in the shooting into a white trash bag. And in
- 22:18Speaker 8: a dramatic courtroom moment, Caroline took this stand in her
- 22:21Speaker 8: own defense.
- 22:23Speaker 11: She explained what she could recall of the day and
- 22:26Speaker 11: what was going on with the children, but.
- 22:28Speaker 8: The jury didn't buy the long list of defenses. After
- 22:31Speaker 8: a two week trial, Grandma Conway was found guilty on
- 22:34Speaker 8: first degree murder. Her son Richard also guilty. Both will
- 22:38Speaker 8: spend the rest of their lives behind bars.
- 22:41Speaker 3: Well she ever see the light of day.
- 22:43Speaker 2: I believe that everybody who's convicted by jury a first
- 22:48Speaker 2: green murder should stay in jail for the rest of
- 22:50Speaker 2: their life because they have taken somebody from this planet
- 22:53Speaker 2: and you cannot bring them back ever.
- 22:55Speaker 8: And from behind bars, Grandma Conway still adamantly stands by
- 22:59Speaker 8: her story that her grandchildren were in grave danger. She's
- 23:02Speaker 8: determined to keep fighting.
- 23:04Speaker 10: To you, in your heart, really honestly believe your grandchild
- 23:08Speaker 10: or grandchildren were touched inappropriately.
- 23:11Speaker 6: As I do.
- 23:12Speaker 4: They told me they heard her, but nobody listened up.
- 23:18Speaker 8: Next, the man Caroline Conway accuses comes forward to set
- 23:21Speaker 8: the record straight and fire some shots of his own.
- 23:24Speaker 8: Did anything ever inappropriate happen?
- 23:30Speaker 1: It's been dubbed a custody dispute on steroids, one that
- 23:34Speaker 1: would involve accusations of sexual abuse, a sheriff's deputy and
- 23:38Speaker 1: a grandma with a gun. Our Michelle Sagona is in
- 23:41Speaker 1: Maryland now with more of our exclusive investigation.
- 23:45Speaker 8: Caroline Conway and her son Richard are sitting behind bars,
- 23:48Speaker 8: both convicted of murder after Caroline cold bloodedly shot her
- 23:52Speaker 8: ex daughter in law Crystal and executed her new husband,
- 23:56Speaker 8: Robert Mangi in a shopping mall parking lot. All over
- 24:01Speaker 8: our custody battle and allegations of sexual abuse.
- 24:05Speaker 4: My grandson was showing signs of being molested in and
- 24:11Speaker 4: started telling me things that.
- 24:13Speaker 11: He said to her, things of a sexual nature when
- 24:16Speaker 11: they were bathing him.
- 24:18Speaker 8: After hearing the stories, are horrified, Caroline sent her grandson
- 24:22Speaker 8: to a therapist one day.
- 24:25Speaker 11: The therapist goes through bad touch, good touch, confusing, touch
- 24:30Speaker 11: your private area, and it says, at mama's house, I'll
- 24:35Speaker 11: be hurt if I tell.
- 24:37Speaker 8: The therapist reported the alleged abuse to the Virginia Department
- 24:40Speaker 8: of Social Services, who did not find evidence to support
- 24:44Speaker 8: the claim.
- 24:45Speaker 10: I need to know here, specifically, what your grandson told
- 24:48Speaker 10: you about what he said was happening to him.
- 24:53Speaker 4: He said that they may not go into the bathroom
- 24:58Speaker 4: sit in the tub. Would not wa he said, because
- 25:02Speaker 4: Robin and Montana would come in their naked and make
- 25:05Speaker 4: them touch them and they would rub themselves on him.
- 25:08Speaker 8: Montana, the friend of Crystal and Robert, was never called
- 25:11Speaker 8: to testify in court. Both he and Cristel were totally
- 25:14Speaker 8: cleared of any wrongdoing by the Department of Social Services.
- 25:19Speaker 8: But Montana came to us to set the record straight
- 25:22Speaker 8: once and for all, claiming that he never touched either
- 25:25Speaker 8: of Crystal's children and he's appalled by the allegations.
- 25:30Speaker 12: Why do you think Caroline Conway said said these things
- 25:33Speaker 12: about you.
- 25:34Speaker 13: They're grasping at straws because they knew that they were
- 25:36Speaker 13: going to be losing the child custody case, and they
- 25:40Speaker 13: thought that if they had accused Crystal, Robert and I
- 25:44Speaker 13: of sexually assaulting the children, then they'd be a slam dunk.
- 25:48Speaker 6: No one would really look into it much.
- 25:50Speaker 8: We asked Montana, a former naval officer, whether he lived
- 25:54Speaker 8: with Crystal and Robert, a big point of contention in court,
- 25:57Speaker 8: which would suggest he had access to the kids.
- 26:01Speaker 3: And so, would you classify yourself as a roommate.
- 26:06Speaker 13: It's hard to distinguish simply because I had my own place.
- 26:09Speaker 13: I lived on basein what's called PPB.
- 26:12Speaker 8: Some would say, well, why are you spending so much
- 26:14Speaker 8: time over there?
- 26:15Speaker 13: Because Rob was my best friend in the Navy. We
- 26:20Speaker 13: shared everything, We spent a lot of time when we
- 26:23Speaker 13: were out to sea together.
- 26:24Speaker 12: Spending time with the children. You definitely did that by
- 26:29Speaker 12: yourself and with.
- 26:30Speaker 13: Them, with them the majority of the time. Every now
- 26:33Speaker 13: and then, you know, I would be a hey, we're
- 26:34Speaker 13: running to the store something. Can you keep an eye
- 26:36Speaker 13: on the kids?
- 26:37Speaker 6: Yeah?
- 26:38Speaker 3: During that time?
- 26:39Speaker 12: Did anything ever inappropriate happen?
- 26:41Speaker 6: No?
- 26:42Speaker 12: Never, I would Did you ever give the children a
- 26:44Speaker 12: bath without water?
- 26:46Speaker 2: God?
- 26:46Speaker 12: No, anything else that they are claiming, no that you did.
- 26:51Speaker 6: No, I wouldn't.
- 26:52Speaker 13: I would never lay a hand on a child like that.
- 26:54Speaker 13: Is that is ridiculous. I've never touched the children in
- 26:57Speaker 13: any way, shape or form like that. I I hate
- 27:00Speaker 13: people like that and like it just fills me with
- 27:03Speaker 13: rage knowing that somebody would go that far to try to.
- 27:06Speaker 6: Ruin someone else's life.
- 27:09Speaker 8: Montana recalls the moment he heard the devastating news that
- 27:12Speaker 8: his best friend Robert was killed.
- 27:16Speaker 13: My friend was gone. There's nothing that I could do
- 27:18Speaker 13: to bring him back. And sorry, it's okay, And I
- 27:29Speaker 13: just I lost.
- 27:29Speaker 8: It, and Montana says he wishes he had the chance
- 27:33Speaker 8: to confront the conways face to face.
- 27:37Speaker 3: Did you want to testify?
- 27:38Speaker 13: I wanted to look at the people in the eye
- 27:41Speaker 13: that had took one of my best friends away from
- 27:43Speaker 13: me and let them know that what they did was
- 27:46Speaker 13: wrong and.
- 27:48Speaker 6: That they didn't need to take it that far.
- 27:51Speaker 13: And I wanted to make sure that they had the
- 27:54Speaker 13: book thrown at them.
- 27:56Speaker 8: Since the sentencing, Crystal moved to Florida with the kids,
- 27:59Speaker 8: leaving Caroline daughters who want to remain anonymous, to pick
- 28:03Speaker 8: up the pieces.
- 28:05Speaker 10: Are you angry with your mom?
- 28:10Speaker 13: A little?
- 28:12Speaker 14: I don't want to say angry, more upset or and
- 28:16Speaker 14: disappointed because it's like.
- 28:21Speaker 4: He almost took that from us and our families. What
- 28:27Speaker 4: are we supposed to say when we have kids and they.
- 28:30Speaker 14: Ask about and he asks you about like grandma, you know,
- 28:36Speaker 14: like that's not just like your life, it's like our
- 28:39Speaker 14: lives and our family's lives.
- 28:41Speaker 8: And even though the book is now closed on the
- 28:44Speaker 8: dark tail the conways, the fifty three year old grandmother
- 28:48Speaker 8: says she still can't remember pulling the trigger, but she
- 28:51Speaker 8: will live with the consequences for the rest of her life.
- 28:55Speaker 4: My family's been broken up, They've been torn apart of
- 28:58Speaker 4: his whole situation. Do you have for that? I regret
- 29:02Speaker 4: that I have. I feel tremendous guilt for that because
- 29:09Speaker 4: it's wrong, But I honestly can't remember doing this.
- 29:16Speaker 1: Coming up one shot to the head, Desiree was left
- 29:20Speaker 1: to die.
- 29:20Speaker 5: I told my dad that I am tougher than a bot.
- 29:23Speaker 1: But the team survived and comps say the violent and
- 29:26Speaker 1: vicious attack was at the hands of two of her
- 29:28Speaker 1: classmates with a shocking motive.
- 29:31Speaker 15: I haven't seen anything like this case in eighteen years
- 29:35Speaker 15: that I've worked for cash Can next.
- 29:41Speaker 1: As we travel across the country covering crime stories, we've
- 29:44Speaker 1: certainly run across some pretty outrageous reasons why people commit crimes.
- 29:48Speaker 1: Case in point, the attempted murder of a young Utah girl.
- 29:52Speaker 1: Just wait until you hear what the suspects say their
- 29:55Speaker 1: alleged motive was.
- 29:57Speaker 7: They were teams to sixteen year old were identified as
- 30:01Speaker 7: significant people of interest.
- 30:03Speaker 8: Who Copsey snapped he shot her in the back.
- 30:06Speaker 15: I haven't seen anything like this case.
- 30:10Speaker 1: It's mid February in Smithfield, Utah. There's a winter chill
- 30:14Speaker 1: in the air. In something else much colder. A conversation
- 30:18Speaker 1: between two sixteen year old boys, Colter Peterson and Jason.
- 30:22Speaker 16: Decker one day while they were playing video games, They
- 30:26Speaker 16: talked about how easy it would be to just get
- 30:29Speaker 16: rid of her.
- 30:30Speaker 1: Then hers fellow Skyview High School student, fourteen year old
- 30:35Speaker 1: Desiree Turner.
- 30:36Speaker 16: She was a competitive equestrian, a very thoughtful, responsible, sweet
- 30:41Speaker 16: young woman, and a good student according to her parents
- 30:44Speaker 16: and her teachers.
- 30:46Speaker 1: But to her classmates Colter and Jason, she's something else,
- 30:49Speaker 1: something worth killing for. Colter tells his best friend Jason
- 30:54Speaker 1: that he wishes he could get rid of her. According
- 30:57Speaker 1: to courtroom testimony, Jason responds, quote, well, you've got a
- 31:01Speaker 1: six inch blade, why.
- 31:02Speaker 2: Don't you do it yourself.
- 31:04Speaker 16: The original plan had been to slit Desiree's throat. They
- 31:08Speaker 16: had talked about how that would be quieter, but as
- 31:11Speaker 16: a backup, Colter did bring a gun with him.
- 31:15Speaker 1: Two days after Valentine's Day. According to courtroom testimony, the
- 31:18Speaker 1: plot is a plan, and that plan is in motion,
- 31:21Speaker 1: and Jason sends a text to Colter which reads, let's
- 31:25Speaker 1: get this done, bro.
- 31:27Speaker 16: Colter Peterson asked Desiree to meet him at the canal.
- 31:31Speaker 16: He was going to sell her a knife. So she
- 31:33Speaker 16: got there and Jason Decker was there as well, something
- 31:37Speaker 16: that she was surprised about.
- 31:39Speaker 1: The three high schoolers chat for a little bit, and
- 31:42Speaker 1: then Desiree receives a tax from her mother asking her
- 31:45Speaker 1: to hurry home. Desiree turns to walk away.
- 31:49Speaker 16: That's when Colter shot her in the back.
- 31:51Speaker 1: The bullet hits Desiree in the back of the head
- 31:53Speaker 1: and she falls to the ground. Then Jason removes the
- 31:56Speaker 1: backpack from the girl's seemingly lifeless body for a heartless final.
- 32:00Speaker 16: Act, and as she was there, presumably dying, the boys went.
- 32:05Speaker 3: Through her backpack.
- 32:06Speaker 16: They took her iPod, they took her phone, they took
- 32:09Speaker 16: fifty five dollars in cash, and they left her there.
- 32:14Speaker 1: Hours pass and Desiree's parents are panicked. They've been waiting
- 32:17Speaker 1: for her since school let out and their daughters still
- 32:19Speaker 1: hasn't come home. They file a missing person's report and
- 32:23Speaker 1: take to Facebook asking for.
- 32:24Speaker 16: Help, and the community went out and started looking for
- 32:27Speaker 16: desire so a small community.
- 32:30Speaker 1: Finally, just before one am, two family friends find her
- 32:33Speaker 1: laying face down in the field, covered in blood where
- 32:35Speaker 1: she was left to die. But as it turns out,
- 32:38Speaker 1: the girl is still a lot, even if just barely.
- 32:41Speaker 5: Desiree is currently in critical condition. She's in a medical
- 32:46Speaker 5: induced coma, and she is in the fight of her
- 32:49Speaker 5: life right now.
- 32:50Speaker 1: Meanwhile, Smithfield police search for the shooter.
- 32:54Speaker 7: Investigators have served multiple search words and hercover.
- 32:57Speaker 1: Key evidence evidence like Ray's phone records from right before
- 33:02Speaker 1: she was shot.
- 33:02Speaker 7: Two sixteen year old males were identified as significant people
- 33:06Speaker 7: of interest.
- 33:07Speaker 1: Cop soon tracked down Colter and he admits to shooting
- 33:11Speaker 1: Desiree and the motive as senseless as they come.
- 33:15Speaker 16: The boys became annoyed with Desiree because she was contacting
- 33:20Speaker 16: them consistently through social media.
- 33:23Speaker 1: According to courtroom testimony, Colter says, quote, I just didn't
- 33:27Speaker 1: want anything to do with snapchatting or anymore, that's right.
- 33:32Speaker 1: Coulter admits he snapped over snapchats, but while he admits
- 33:36Speaker 1: he was the trigger man, he claims Jason was the mastermind.
- 33:39Speaker 1: At first, Jason denies any involvement, but later changes his
- 33:43Speaker 1: story after police make a damning discovery in his veteran
- 33:47Speaker 1: the shellcasing to the bullet used to shoot Desiree, which
- 33:51Speaker 1: Coulter claims Jason asked to keep as a memento.
- 33:54Speaker 15: I haven't seen anything like this case in eighteen years
- 33:58Speaker 15: that I've worked for cash Count.
- 34:00Speaker 1: And neither has the judge who later determines the sixteen
- 34:03Speaker 1: year old boys will be tried as adults. Colter Peterson's
- 34:07Speaker 1: attorney reacting to the news that his client will be
- 34:10Speaker 1: moving from the juvenile facility to an adult prison.
- 34:14Speaker 10: He started a cooking class, he's getting his education.
- 34:18Speaker 12: He's really thriving in this environment, and now to take
- 34:21Speaker 12: him out of that, I think it's a travesty.
- 34:24Speaker 1: Coulter Peterson and Jason Decker face charges of aggravated attempted murder,
- 34:28Speaker 1: aggravated robbery, and obstructing justice. Colter Peterson's trial will begin
- 34:33Speaker 1: in the fall, and Jason Decker's trial is scheduled for January.
- 34:36Speaker 1: Neither one of them has entered a plea. As for Desiree,
- 34:40Speaker 1: she miraculously survives.
- 34:42Speaker 5: I am so thankful to be here today, to be.
- 34:44Speaker 1: Alive with the bullet still lodged in her head. Desiree
- 34:48Speaker 1: puts on a brave face for the media, including our
- 34:51Speaker 1: Fox thirteen affiliate reporter Dora.
- 34:53Speaker 16: Schaidell, and all the pictures we've seen Nivers. She had
- 34:56Speaker 16: these long, curly locks and her hair was short to
- 35:00Speaker 16: obviously due to her brain injury and all the surgery
- 35:04Speaker 16: that she had had to have on her skull.
- 35:06Speaker 5: I told my dad that I am tougher than a
- 35:07Speaker 5: bullet and.
- 35:09Speaker 1: The first thing this tinet questrian wants to do when
- 35:11Speaker 1: she gets home see her beloved horses.
- 35:14Speaker 5: My favorite horse's name is Junior, and I'm super excited
- 35:19Speaker 5: to go see him and ride him again.
- 35:21Speaker 1: Unfortunately, it maybe some time before Desiree rides again.
- 35:24Speaker 15: Dos has battled for her life and the ability to
- 35:27Speaker 15: do daily tasks. She still wages this battle and will
- 35:32Speaker 15: for many years to come.
- 35:33Speaker 1: Desrae's physical wounds will continue to heal over time, but
- 35:37Speaker 1: the entire community is still trying to recover from the
- 35:40Speaker 1: scars left by an.
- 35:41Speaker 2: Act so sensus.
- 35:42Speaker 16: I think what's been most shocking about this case is
- 35:45Speaker 16: trying to figure out why why would these young boys
- 35:49Speaker 16: do something so violent, so cruel, just because they were
- 35:54Speaker 16: annoyed that she was messaging them through social media. I
- 35:57Speaker 16: don't know if we'll ever truly understand why they did
- 36:01Speaker 16: this