Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / 'Killer fiance' Patrick Frazee tells mistress to find fiance Kelsey Berreth's bloody teeth; Chicago PD says 'Empire' star Jussie Smollett's a LIAR

Transcript

'Killer fiance' Patrick Frazee tells mistress to find fiance Kelsey Berreth's bloody teeth; Chicago PD says 'Empire' star Jussie Smollett's a LIAR · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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  Speaker 1: Nancy Grace. That's right. That affidavit details what happened in
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: the days leading up to Barrett's death. Phrasie's former girlfriend
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: and Twin Falls woman Crystal Kenny, made a plea deal
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: in exchange for the information outlined in that report. An
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: affidavid from the murder case of Kelsey Barrett, revealing more
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: graphic details about her death and the months leading up
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: to her legend murder. In court Tuesday, prosecutors revealed Barrett's fiance,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Patrick Fray, blindfolded Bareth on Thanksgiving Day before hitting and
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: killing her with a baseball bat. The information stemming from
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Frazie's former girlfriend and Idaho woman, Crystal Lee Kenny. Kenny
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  Speaker 1: agreed to testify against Frasie as part of a plea
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: deal for tampering with evidence. On Wednesday. The affidavit revealed
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Kenny told investigators that she traveled to Colorado after Phrasie
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  Speaker 1: said she needed to clean the murder scene in Bareth's home,
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  Speaker 1: removing any traces of blood left on the walls, couch, television,
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  Speaker 1: and even on the stuffed animals. Belonging to the couple's
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: one year old daughter. Kenny also told investigators that Phrasie
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: was concerned that one of Bareth's teeth were left behind.
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  Speaker 1: Kenny says she later found it and got rid of it.
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  Speaker 1: The affidavit also shows Phrasie wanted Kenny to bring Bareth's
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  Speaker 1: body to Idaho, but she says she refused, and instead
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  Speaker 1: Phrasie burned the body. Our friends at din verse seven
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: reporting the very latest out of a Colorado courtroom. I'm
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  Speaker 1: Nancy Grace. This is crime Stories. Thank you for being
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: with us. This is what we are learning. We are
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: learning that Patrick Phrasy tricks his fiance, the mother of
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  Speaker 1: his little girl, Killey, into blindfolding her and asking her
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  Speaker 1: to smell different scented candles, then rearing back with a
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  Speaker 1: baseball bat is striking her in the head and face
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  Speaker 1: that he hits her so hard. His big concern he
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: didn't find all of her teeth that he knocked out
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: of her head. We go on in this affidavit, if
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: you come over it very very carefully, we learn that
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: his mistress, Rodeo Queen, finds the tooth with the root
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  Speaker 1: still attached, and disposes of it. She is in the
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: thick of this, on her hands and knees, after traveling
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: thirteen hours overnight to come to Patrick, yet his becking call.
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  Speaker 1: Nobody had a gun to her head driving through the night,
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  Speaker 1: leaving her two daughters. She claims to be so worried
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: about so she could clean up. Phrasie calls her and says,
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  Speaker 1: a girl, you got a mess to clean up, and
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  Speaker 1: she comes running, complete with a hairnet, a surgeon smock,
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  Speaker 1: surgeon booty's worn in ears, surgical gloves, bleach wendex and
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  Speaker 1: she spends the next four to six hours on her
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  Speaker 1: hands and knees scrubbing. You know what, I'm not buying
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: it with me an all star panel forensics expert, Professor Forensics,
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Jacksonville State University, an author of Blood Beneath My Feet
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: on Amazon, Joseph Scott Morgan, California prosecutor, Wendy Patrick, renowned
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: forensics psychiatrist, doctor Daniel Bober, judge lawyer, anchor Ashley Willcott
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  Speaker 1: at ashe wilcott Com and Crime online dot Com investigative
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: reporter Ellen Killurin First You, Ashley Willcot when she says
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: she did all of this cleaned. Kelsey Bearris condo scrubbing.
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  Speaker 1: There was blood on the bath mat that had to
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  Speaker 1: be thrown away, blood on the commode, blood on the ceiling,
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  Speaker 1: blood in the kitchen, blood on the oven mints, blood
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  Speaker 1: on the baby's toys. Who ps was in the next
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  Speaker 1: room in a playpin while Phrasy murdered Kelsey Bearrett, the
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: baby's mother. Blood on toys, blood on stuffed animals, blood
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  Speaker 1: on the sofa, blood on pillows, blood on books, blood
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  Speaker 1: everywhere on the rock face of Kelsey's fireplace, everything soaked
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: in blood on oven mits, on kelsey Beris purse. She
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: cleaned it all up. And then while he after killing Kelsey,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: goes and sits down to Thanksgiving dinner with his family.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: Certainly didn't hurt his appetite. Then after she goes with
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: him an arm in arm, they watched the body burn
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: on a bonfire. Help me out, Ashley, Yeah, I didn't
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: mean to interrupt you, but two things. The first says,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: let's talk about him and the fact that such a brutal,
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: hannous murder. Of course, there's blood on every inch of
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  Speaker 1: everything in that home. Of course there is. He beat
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  Speaker 1: her with a baseball bat. Number two, she's complicit in
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  Speaker 1: this crime. You don't go clean it up. You don't
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  Speaker 1: have information that, oh, we've tried and talked about killing
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  Speaker 1: her in the past. These are crimes that you report
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  Speaker 1: to the police immediately. She's complicit in this murder. Well,
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: you know, Ashley, you really hit the nail on the
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  Speaker 1: head and let me go to you. Wendy Patrick, California Prosecutor.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: When you see an attack like this that is so bloody,
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: it's just chaos, many experts say, oh, that was a
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  Speaker 1: crime of passion bs Wendy. That's a technical legal term.
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  Speaker 1: Because he had approached her I believe, four times to
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: beat Kelsey with a baseball bat. Once he gave her
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  Speaker 1: a metal pipe, according to her, Once he wanted her
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  Speaker 1: to poison Kelsey is caramel machiato with ambient and valium.
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  Speaker 1: And once they tried to get her to come do
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  Speaker 1: the day but she was in Reno and couldn't get
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  Speaker 1: a ticket. This is well planned. This is no spur
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  Speaker 1: of the moment murder, that's right. And it's that chronology
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  Speaker 1: of sophisticated attempts, prior attempts that really will just blow
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  Speaker 1: out of the water. Some kind of a defense based
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: on passion, and I think we see that in cases
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: like this frequently, where you have to look at the
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  Speaker 1: history of what's gone on between this couple of how
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  Speaker 1: has it been preplanned? But given that, one of the
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  Speaker 1: things that strikes me about this case, you know, it
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: would have been much much calmer, let's say, if it
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: were a poisoning or something like this. The brutality of
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: the way the murder was finally committed in this case
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: is shocking, and it no doubt is going to be
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  Speaker 1: shocking to people that are now going to be deciding
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: why it happened, how it happened, and who all is
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  Speaker 1: culpable before so many horrific details revealed if you carefully
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: come through that arrest half of David. Not only do
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: I want to thank our guests Joseph Scott, Morgan, Wendy Patrick,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: doctor Daniel Bober, Ashley Wolcott, and Ellen Klaurin, along with
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  Speaker 1: for being our partner. Prosecutors have met the burden to
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: show there is enough evidence to charge Patrick Frazy with murder.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: He will stay in jail with no bond pending trial.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Central to the case for prosecutors is testimony from Crystal Leaf,
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  Speaker 1: a woman we now know dated Patrick in college. The
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: two also had an affair in twenty sixteen and twenty seventeen.
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  Speaker 1: Prosecutors say Phrasey asked her to kill Kelsey Barrett three
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  Speaker 1: different times. She sat and said I can't do this
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  Speaker 1: and tells Patrick I can't do this. We also from
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  Speaker 1: court documents, Lee says Phrasey told her to lie to
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  Speaker 1: the FBI in addition to help make it look like
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  Speaker 1: Barrett was in Idaho and may have killed herself. Crystal
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  Speaker 1: cleans up blood but leaves behind some telltale evidence for
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: our investigators to find. Investigators spoke to three other people
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: besides Lee about this case. Each had details revealing the
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  Speaker 1: plan prosecutors say Phrasey had all along to kill Barrett.
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  Speaker 1: It's still unclear exactly why any of them did not
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: come forward sooner and if they could have saved Barrett's life.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: That was a question that was asked today. Did she
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: call police? It's not one that was answered on the record.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: You know, we are constrained that we can only talk
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: about what was put on the record on any particular day.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: You're hearing CBS divers Shaun Chitness talking the very latest
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: after coming through an arrest half of David and we
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: got out of the courtroom. You know, now she's saying
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: that she left blood behind. I'm talking about the girlfriend
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: Crystal Lee left blood behind on the face of Kelsey's fireplace.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: The murder occurred in the living room for cops to find.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: You know, why not just call the cops when he
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: first asked her to commit murder? Straight out to crime
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: online dot Com, Ellen Klorin, Ellen, I'm not really buying
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: it this She intentionally left blood behind for inspecters or
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: detectives to find me neither, Nancy. That's one of my
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: biggest problems with her testimony. I'm really really struggling with
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: her claims that she said after the fact that she
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: did all of these things to help investigators, that she
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: left the blood on the fireplace, but clean the rest
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: of it up. If you really wanted to help investigators,
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: maybe don't dispose of the tooth that was dislodged when
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: Patrick Crazy allegedly beat Kelsey Bareth over the head. If
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: you really wanted to help investigators, you would leave something
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: more obvious. We're also learning some things in the arrest
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: appidevit that was released yesterday that I'm a lawyer and
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: I'm interested in what you all would legal experience believe.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: But I'm worried that the defense is going to go
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: after a lot of things that were learning, including the
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: fact that she lied to police. Initially they went to
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: meet her out in Las Vegas where she was on
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: a trip, and she said that she didn't have a
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: relationship with Patrick Crazy. She said she'd never heard of
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: Kelsey Barris. And now the prosecution's case seems to be
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: hinging so much on her testimony, and there's nobody. Well,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you, I think that the state is going
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: to have to put her on the stand and hold
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: their nose at the time. I mean, Joseph Scott, Morgan,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Professor Forensics, Jacksonville State University. J Scott, what about forensics, Well,
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: they carry the day. Because here's where I'm coming from,
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: jo Scott, this is not what I believe happened. But
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Chrystal Lee, the rodeo queen, his other lover, has really
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: set herself up for a claim that she's the killer.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: She's there on the scene, she cleans the blood, she
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: gets rid of evidence, she knows where the body is,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: she knows what happened to it, and he can easily
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: claim she did it. Will forensic cabinets carry the day?
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Joe Scott let it go? Yeah, Hey, I gotta tell you, Nancy,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: I think that that the defense is really going to
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: drill down on this where they're going to try to
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: pin it to her more than likely. And look, I
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: would if we could have it in a perfect world,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: I'd love to have this woman's body because I think
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: that you're going to find out a lot more information
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: relative to these injuries she sustained in the power that
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: was involved in bludgeoning her to death with this alleged
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: baseball bat. And you know, yeah, it's gonna be very
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: powerful at the scene relative to what kind of testing
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: they did there this blood that was allegedly cleaned up
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: in an attempt to, you know, cover this whole thing up.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Did they get this to luminess with something like luminol
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: out there? Oh? I know why they use It's in
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: the affidavit they used the blue Star regent. Yeah. Yeah,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: And what's really great about this do you remember just
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: a few moments ago you were talking about how what
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: was that amount of time that she drove to get there.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: You said something like thirteen hours overnight. Yeah, hey, get this.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: Did you know that the longer you allow these things
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: to set in place, it's just like anything else, Nancy,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: a piece of clothing, the harder it is to wipe away,
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: to wipe away, even using bleach, any of trace elements
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: of blood. So they waited a long time before they
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: clean this mess up. What does that say to you?
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: Let's go to our forensic psychiatrists joining us today at
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: the Florida Jurisdiction, doctor Daniel Bober. Doctor Bober, it just
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: is beyond me how he can beat her head in
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: with a baseball bat while she's smelling a candle he
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: gave her, with the baby in a playpen in the
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: next room, have a horribly bloody crime scene, I mean soaked,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: soaked in blood, and just fold her body up and
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: put it in a tote bag, put it in his
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: pickup truck, drive to his family's house with the baby,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: I guess, wash his hands of the blood like Poncho's pilot,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: and sit down to a turkey and dressing in cranberry
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: sauce like nothing's wrong, leaving the crime scene sitting there
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: too decompose for two full days for his mistress to
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: come clean it up. What is that, doctor bober cruis psychopathy, nancy,
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: zero remorse, zero empathy, zero connection with other human beings.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: But Crystal Lee is very interesting because you know, she's
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: claiming to be this clueless, hapless victim that was unwittingly
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: led down the path, and clearly she's complicit. Clearly she's involved.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: She lied, she tried to conceal evidence, she tampered with
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: the scene, and I think she's, you know, truly responsible.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: I think she knew exactly what she was doing and
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: she was intimately involved. Straight out to Alan Kalauria and
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: Crime online dot Com, investigative reporter at crime online dot Com,
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: we have this and all other breaking news and crime
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: and justice to ak. Let me ask you a question.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about Crystal having a gun in her car.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: I saw that in the affidavit, especially as it relates
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: to her best friend Meghan Garrison. That's right, there's a
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: new item in the affidavit that shows not that Crystel
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: did a lot to cover up what she was doing.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: She switched cars with her friend Megan, apparently because she
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: didn't want her very recent ex husband to know what
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: was going on, so she switched cards with her friend
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: and the FBI interviewed the friend later in the investigation
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: and the friend said that she has a gun. We
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: don't know what type of weapon, but she hadn't gone
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: in her car, and the friend Megan told investigators that
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: there was It does not sound like it's a gun
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: that she uses very often. She said that there was
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: a bullet missing last night. I called Spencer Kerson, a
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: friend of Crime Online and Crime Stories who's a security expert,
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: and he explained to me that it's possible for a
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: bullet to discharge from a gun without it being fired.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: But again, this is something that I'm worried that the
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: defense is going to look out. It's say, wait a second,
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: what happened with this gun and is it too late
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: to get any kind of ballistics from it? To Wendy Patrick,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: California Prosecutor, Wendy, where does this leave? Chrystal Lee, the
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: Rodeo Queen, divorced mother of two, has been dating Patrick
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: Frasey since college. They reignited their love according to this affidavit,
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: and around twenty seventeen or eighteen, I think that's according
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: to the ex husband who's living with her on the
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: same roof. Where does this leave her credibility? Because if
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: you carefully read the affidavit, you see that she lied
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: to her best friend, Megan Garrison. She told her best
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: friend that she was going somewhere different. She set up
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: a fake email message that she had to stay that
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: night and that would be the night she was cleaning
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: up the murder scene with Megan because she was quote
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: too drunk to drive something some bs like that in
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: case her ex husband read the emails. Okay, so she's
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: setting up a fake email. She goes and gets a
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: new phone to get rid of all the cell phone evidence.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: She cleans the crime scene. She's been solicited three or
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: four times to commit murderer and never calls the police.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: She stands there arm in arm with Patrick Frazy while
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: they watch the black toadbag with silver handles melt with
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: a heap. As she describes it inside, she won't she
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: won't say it to cops, but she knew that was
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: Kiltsy's body and cash this you got the mom too,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: Phrasie's mom, Sheila, who was home at the time of
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: the bonfire. So what's her credibility? What is Crystal Lees credibility. Yeah, Nancy,
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: it leaves her in a really bad spot when it
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: comes to being a credible witness. And when we discussed
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: the relationship she had with the defendant in this case,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: the killer, you know, I know that it sounds like, oh,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: it was an affair. They used to be sweethearts back
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: in the day. It's a relationship of power and control
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: to commit a murder and then insist she come over
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: and clean up the mess, No doubt. These are the
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: kinds of cases where a woman that's involved often says,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: I was under the influence of the perpetrator and I
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: didn't I feared what would happen if I didn't comply
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: with his requests. If you were to look at it
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: through that lens, she might have more credibility than not.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: But again, Nancy, like you just pointed out this long
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: list of inconsistencies and dishonest statements that are listed in
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: the app and David, that's got an amount to a
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: huge blow to her credibility, notwithstanding the fact that she
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: was involved in a very sick relationship. Crystaland tells us
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: that on October I'm sorry. November twenty second, Thanksgiving, Patrick
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: kills Kelsey in a horrific manner with a bat in
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: the back of the head as Kelsey is sniffing candles
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: with a blindfold over her eyes. Crystal tells us that
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: Patrick then calls her after he has put Kelsey in
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: a black plastic tote, calls Crystal to come out and
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: help him clean up. She does not come out that day.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: She cannot come out that day, but she does come
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: out on October twenty fourth, and as Crystal describes, when
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: she walks into Kelsey's condo, the scene is horrific. There's
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: blood everywhere, there are footprints everywhere, and Crystal cleans up
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: blood but leaves behind some telltale evidence for our investigators
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: to find. Climb stories with Nancy Grace brothers Ola and
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: abel Osandaro, the duo spent several hours testifying before a
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: grand jury. The results in indictment actor Jose Smilette, charged
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: with disorderly conduct, a class four felony. The brother's attorney,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: Gloria Schmidt, there was a point where this story needed
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: to be told, and they manned up and they said,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: you know what, We're going to correct this. That story
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: told in part through the surveillance video. CBS two first
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: obtained the brothers seen at a beauty supply store buying item.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: Sources say we're used just a day later in a
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: staged attack on smilette. A plane, red hat, ski masks,
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: and gloves are among the items. Ivan in touch mom,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: I've been in touch with older brother. I've been in
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: touch with the family. This has been very traumatizing to
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: them as well as everyone who knows this story. Yet
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: raid of the brothers home turned up some of the
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: same props the brothers purchased, like that red hat and
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: black face mask. I think Jesse Smollett should come clear
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: because the truth will set him for you. Okay, don't
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: think that's gonna happen, because at this hour, Jesse Smollett
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: has just been arrested for faking racist homophobic attack, a
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: racist homophobic attack on himself, then lying to police and
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: creating a police report. He now says he is going
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: to fight the charges. Welcome back, everybody. I mean, it'sy grace.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: This is crime stories, you know, in the big scheme
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: of things. When we Jess finished talking about Kelsey Barrett,
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: who is dead, who has been brutally murdered in a
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: long standing scheme, leaving behind a baby girl to grow
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: up without her mother, a family having their daughter wrenched
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: away from them in a brutal, brutal way. Now we've
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: got a deal with let me just say, a spoiled
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: Brighte that wanted more attention. According to police, when his
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: fa the fake letters he wrote to himself didn't generate
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: enough publicity, allegedly, he decided to stage an attack on himself.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, really, Wendy Patrick, California prosecutor, have you seen
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: the video of these two brothers. Their faces are in
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: the video, they're looking right at the camera. Basically, this
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: is right before the attack. They're buying the ski masks
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: they wore to cover their face, a black a red
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: hat to look like a make a Girl America Great
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Again hat to kind of like suggest this had something
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: to do with Trump. Long story short, they're buying all
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: of these items right down the street from where the
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: attack happened. And what is significant is they're friends with
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: Jesse Smillett, the star of the TV hit Empire. There
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: is friends. One is like his personal trainer. Well it
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: was an extra on the set of Empire. They're even
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: caught on video getting a ride chair to the attack. Wendy. Yeah,
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: I gotta say, Nancy, it doesn't seem like it was
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: very well planned given all of those facts. Let me
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: add to those facts, this occurred during the height of
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: the polar vortex, with those plummeting temperatures, in the middle
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: of the night, with allegedly screaming out this is mega country.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: That area is Chicago. That is not mega country, far
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: from it. So you look at all of the I
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: don't want to see mistakes. You know, We're always happy
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: when please find out who really did and who really
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: did a crime so we can solve it. But this
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: appears to be very poorly planned. What'll be interesting now
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: is seeing given the statements that Jesse already gave very
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: publicly during that Good Morning America interview, and the statements
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: that the lawyer may, how that how the backpedal from here,
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: and how this proceeds given that there's already basically been
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: a position taken by now I'm glad you brought up
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: the GMA interview with my friend Robin Roberts, because she
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: was just looking at him as he was just talking.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, she didn't come out right and call him
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: a liar. She you know, gave him a shred of
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: dignity for Pete's sake. But take a listen to Smilet
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: going on and on about how he decides to go
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: out at t a m and subzero temperature. I believe
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Alan Duke told me it was nine below with the
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: windshill factor to get what a meatball sandwich? You know,
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: at that time of the night with that temperature, I
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: would have just eaten something out of the fridge. I
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: don't care what it was. But he goes out, and
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: we're supposed to believe that these people that have been
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: sending him threatening letters to his set an empire, this
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: person who's targeting him just happened to know he was
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: going to get the thungrees at two am and go
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: to subway in there waiting by the subway with the
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: bleach and the rope. Okay, take a listen to our
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: friend Robin Roberts. What happened that night, Chelsea. When I
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: landed in Chicago and Frank Gatson, who's like my uncle
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: and he's also my creative director, and he picked me
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: up and then we got back to the apartment. There
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: was no food, and so I went out to Walgreens,
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: thinking that they were twenty four hours then to have
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: a smoke. Walgreens was closed, so I called him up
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: and I said, hey, I'm going to run the subway,
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: which was across the street, and I'm gonna get a salad.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: Do you want anything. I went to the subway and
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: got the order. During that time, I texted my manager,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: thinking that he was still in Australia because he was
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: on an Australian tour with one of his other clients,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: and I said, y'll call me when you can. He
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: called me immediately, and while he was on the phone,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: I heard As I was crossing the intersection, I heard
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: Empire and I don't answer to Empire. Empire and I
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: didn't answer. I kept walking and then I heard Empire.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: So I turned around and I said, did you just
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: say to me? And I see the attacker masked and
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: he said this maga country punches me right in the face.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: So I punched through the ass back and then we
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: started tussling. You know, it was very icy, and we
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: ended up tustling by the stairs, fighting, fighting, fighting. There
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: was a second person involved who was kicking me in
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: my back and then it just stopped. MM that's what
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: he told Robin and Roberts to Alan Glauran, Crime Online
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: got comm investigative reporter who's been following in the case.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: It's the very beginning. Okay, what can you tell me
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: about those letters? We know that there was a letter
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: sent to the studio where Empire films just a week
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: before the purported hate crime attack on January twenty ninth.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: It was written, it was created like someone like had
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: like a ransom letter with letters cut out of a magazine,
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: and that only doesn't look now more and more likely
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: that this hate crime was orchestrated on January twenty ninth.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: There is a lot of suspicion that that letter also
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: may have been something that was fabricated. And as we've
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: mentioned before, people who work with Smallette on the show
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: have said to reporters that they thought he wasn't happy
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: with the reaction to the letter, so he upped the
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: ante and orchestrated this so called hate crime against himself. Well,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: when you the two brothers who were involved in this,
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: and they've already spoken to police, they've been interrogated, and
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: they were released with no charges. According to reports, they
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: were paid thirty five hundred dollars in another five hundred.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: When they got back to attack their friend Jesse Smilette,
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: the Star of Empire, they conveniently leave town to fly
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: to visit family in Nigeria. They are American born, they're
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: American citizens. The day after the attack attacks at two am,
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: they head out of the country. The next day, when
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: they get back, they're met by cops. They are the ones.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: The two brothers, Abel and Ola Osendaro are the ones
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: saying that Smilett wrote the letter to himself. And when
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: you look at it, I mean, Joe Scott Morgan, please
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: help me. It looks like a fifth grader was trying
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: to write a crime novel where you cut out the
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: letters from a magazine. And then of course I think
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: they found magazines in somebody's apartment that they're looking at.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: And then they've got in red. It's got somebody getting
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: hung with a gun shooting them very it's like stick figures. Yeah,
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: and you know they're talking about this, this faux hate
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: crime that took place. Uh, that doesn't that doesn't hold
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: my attention as much as this letter does. Nancy, remember
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: the faux hate crime reporting and all that. As a
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: fourth fourth class felony. Uh, what you're talking about with
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: this letter. The FBI is involved in this investigation, Nancy.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: And from what I'm reading, they have that envelope, they
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: have the letter, they have everything, they're analyzing it, and
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: this is this is a kicker. Not only did this
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: contain this homemade you know, whatever this thing was, it
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: looks like some kind of child's rendering, as you put it,
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: but there was crushed, white, unidentified powder in this thing.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: This kicks this up to another level. What's going to
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: be really interesting moving forward is to see how the
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: US Attorney and the FBI and the Postal Inspector pursue
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: this thing, because you know, you look at these charges
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: that people have been convicted on these cases where they're
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: sending these letters in the mail, Nancy, some of these
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: people are getting up to fifteen and sixteen years on
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: a single count for these things. So that's going to
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: be really interesting. They ran off, and I saw where
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: they ran, and the phone was in my pocket but
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: it had fallen out and it was sitting there, and
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: my manager was still on phone. So I picked up
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: the phone and I said, Brandon, and he's Lef's going on?
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: And I said I was just jumped, and then I
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: looked down and I see that there's a rope around
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: my neck, which I hadn't I had noticed it before
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: you because it was so fast, you know what I'm saying.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: It was so fast. How long did this all? It
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: felt like minutes, but it probably was like thirty seconds. Honestly,
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: I can't tell you. Honestly, I noticed the rope around
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: my neck and I started screaming, and I said, there's
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: a rope around my neck. And did you get any
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: kind of description of the attack. I gave a body description,
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: and I, you know, because I saw this, but and
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: you know, right here or whatever. But I didn't see
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: I can't tell you what color their eyes were. I
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: can't tell you. And I did not see anything except
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: the second person I saw running away and the first person, yeah,
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: I saw, saw his stature. I gave the description as
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: best as I could. You have to understand also that
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: it's Chicago in winter. People can wear ski masks, and
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: nobody's going to question that. You're hearing our friend at
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: ABC's GMA, Robin Roberts talking to Empire or star Jesse Smilett.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: He's just been formally charged. He has been taken to
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: the station and booked on charges basically a false report.
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: In that jurisdiction, that's considered a disorderly conduct charge. It's
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: a class for felony. You get one to three years
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: behind bars, unless it's kicked up to another charge because
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: of the white substance that he allegedly mailed himself in
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: his fake threats to doctor Daniel Bober. We're getting ready
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: to take into a presser by the District Attorney to
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: doctor Daniel Bober forensic psychi is doctor Biber. Do you
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: hear Smolette's voice and the way he tells dramatically tells
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: Robin Roberts the story. It gets down very low and
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: then it springs back up and he seems to have
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: an answer for everything. What is that, Nancy? Remember Morton
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: Downey Jr. The attack on him. Anyway, No, you know
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: this is he needs acting lessons because this is deeply
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: compromising on so many levels. The fact that you know,
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: he's a celebrity and we're in the B two movement
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: and we have all this identity politics going on, and
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: the fact that he had twelve detectives working on his
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: case when they could have been out doing something else.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: There is actually a disorder called a factitious disorder imposed
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: on self, where people do these sorts of things. And
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: I've seen patients in my practice who have claimed to
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: have had cancer and never had it, or they claimed
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: to be victims of the nine to eleven attack, but
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: they were never there. They just sound like a pack
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: of liars to me, doctor Daniel Biber, Why are you
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: putting it on the big and the pig and pretending
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: they have some kind of personality disorder. They're just lying. Well,
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying they don't know the difference between right
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: and wrong. Obviously, they're volitional, they're wilful, they know what
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: they're doing. But the motivation is because purely for attention.
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: There are people that feel very invalidated. They get enough
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: attention and this is the only way they could get,
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: you know, recognition. And this is especially prominent in people
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: in the acting profession who were, you know, sort of
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: insecure by nature. Well, this is interesting, Wendy Patrick. I
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: want your take on this. We're gonna take you straight
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: into the press room just a moment, Wendy. He's got
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: a high power team of defense lawyers, including Mark Garrigos,
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: my sparring partner, and I was baiting Garrigos by texts
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: last night. He did not take the bait. By the way,
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: it was very respectful about his new client, Jesse Smollett,
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: and did not let me egg him on at all.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: Long story short, I hope Garrigos does not take the
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: route of Winona Ryder that he famously presented for shoplifting.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: And she fought it the whole tooth and nail, and
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: the people saw her going in there with the items.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: They go in there, the items are gone except for
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: all the tags cut off, and she leaves and is
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: caught with the items, and they fight it in court. Here,
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: I think a great thing first of all that to
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: do is okay, you know what, I was afraid I
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: was going to lose my job. I tried to drum
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: up pr I tried to bring attention to attacks on
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: gay people, on black people. And I was wrong and
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: I was stupid, and I'm a big idiot. Please forgive me,
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: and don't let what I did reflect on real crime victims.
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: I'm just a big idiot. That's what I would do.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: I would get out there, get in front of it,
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: admit it, and take a plea go pick up trash
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: on the side of the road and be done with it. Yeah, Nancy,
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: I actually started my career as a criminal defense attorney.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: And you're writing that part of adequate and competent representation
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily always mean fighting a case in court. It
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: off and means expressing guilt early on in the process
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: and throwing yourself on the mercy of the court. It
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: might be a sentencing issue. And why do I say that,
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: had Smolett not gone so public in his denials and
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: given that long interview with your friend Robin, who I thought,
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: I agree with you. She was very nice, she smiled.
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: She basically gave him a platform to lay out exactly
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: what happened. It's hard to detract from that. It's hard
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: to take that away. So maybe the best offense right
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: now is like you, like you suggested, admitting guilt, professing
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: to move on, making a mistake, being an example to others. However,
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: we've all seen that that is not always what happens,
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: even when there's initially And what about this Eka Ellen
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: Killaura and Crime online dot Com investigative reporter. You know
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: a Chicago mom Kenyatta Jones is angry because she says
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: the Smollett investigation diverted police attention and resources that should
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: be being used to solve her daughter's murder. Her daughter,
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: her Oceanica, was shot in the back running from four men,
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: and there's one detective on the case. And let me
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: tell you, I know the deal, because I've been there.
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: You get one hundred and fifty new cases a week,
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: and you're choking, you're drowning in cases. You're trying your
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: best to give your all to every case. So while
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: everybody's out chasing this non attack on Jesse Jesse Smillette,
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: real victims are suffering. That's right, Nancy, And that's one
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: of the really infuriating things about this if in fact
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: the charges are true. When the allegations are correct, this
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: desperate mother, whose daughter was twenty one year old daughter
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: was murdered months ago, has been working around the clock
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: to help solve her case because she's not getting the
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: resources that she needs. And since this purported hate attack happened,
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: she has found leaves herself that she has tried to
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: bring to law enforcement and she hasn't been able to
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: get anywhere. And she believes that part of the reason
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: for that is because so many resources have been directed
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: to a crime that may not have happened at all.
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: I can I'm looking at a picture of Oceania right now.
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: She's just absolutely beautiful. And to think of a mother
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: out there beating the streets to find witnesses because cops
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: are busy on Jesse's smell, Let's shame, shame, shame on him. Guys.
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: Let's go to that presser right now. Take a listen
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: to the Chicago Police before I get started on why
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: we're here. You know, as I look out into the crowd,
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: I just wish that the families of gun violence in
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: this city got this much attention, because that's who really
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: deserves the amount of intention that we're giving to this
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: particular incident. But this morning, I come to you not
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: only as the superintendent of the Chicago Police Department, but
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: also as a black man who spent his entire life
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: living in the city of Chicago. I know the racial
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: divide that exists here. I know how hard it's been
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: for our city and our nation to come together, and
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: I also know the disparities, and I know the history.
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: This announcement today recognizes that Empire actor Jesse Smilett took
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: his career. I'm left hanging my head and asking why
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: why would anyone, especially an African American man, use the
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: symbolism of a noose to make false accusations. How could
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: someone look at the hatred and suffering associated with that
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: symbol and see an opportunity to manipulate that symbol to
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: further his own public profile, who's been embraced by the
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: city of Chicago, turn around and slap everyone in this
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: city in the face by making these false chart claims,
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: bogus police reports calls real harm. They do harm that
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: every legitimate victim who's in need of support by police
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: and investigators, as well as the citizens of this city.
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: Chicago hosts one of the largest pride parades in the world,
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: and we're proud of that. As a police department and
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: also as a city, we do not, nor will we
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: ever tolerate hate in our city, whether that hate is
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: based on an individual, sexual orientation, race, or anything else.
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: So I'm offended by what's happened, and I'm also angry.
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: I love the city of Chicago and the Chicago Police
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: Department warts in all, but this publicity stunt was a
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: scar that Chicago didn't earn and certainly didn't deserve. To
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: make things worse, the accusations within this phony attack received
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: national attention for weeks. Celebrities, news commentators, and even presidential
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: candidates weighed in on something that was choreographed by an actor. First,
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: Smilett attempted to gain attention by sending a false letter
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: that relied on racial, homophobic, and political language. When that
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: didn't work, Smilette pay thirty five hundred dollars to stage
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: this attack and drag Chicago's reputation through the mud in
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: the process. And why this stunt was orchestrated by Smilette
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: because he was dissatisfied with his salary so he can
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: coqued a story about being attacked. Now, our city has problems.
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: We know that we have problems that have affected people
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: from all walks of life, and we know that. But
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: to put the national spotlight on Chicago for something that
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: is both egregious and untrue, it's simply shameful. I'm also
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: concerned about what this means moving forward for hate crimes. Now.
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: Of course, the Chicago Police Department would continue to investigate
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: all reports of these types of incidents with the same
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: amount of vigor that we did with this. One of
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: my concern is that hate crimes will now publicly be
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: met with a level of skepticism that previously didn't happen.
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: That said Smilette was treated as a victim throughout this
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: investigation until we received evidence that led detectives in another direction.
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: I couldn't be more proud of the unrelenting detective work
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: that went into this investigation, and I couldn't be more
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: proud of every investigator that played a part in it.
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: The detective work that we saw in this case is
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: indicative of the work that our detectives do every day
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: in this city. This case, in particular involved hours of
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: video evidence, which, when combined with old fashioned police work,
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: uncovered the truth. These detectives deserve all the credit the
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: world for carefully analyzing the leads and the evidence for
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: weeks before coming to their conclusion. I'd also like to
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: thank the FBI for their helping this investigation. The FBI's
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: partnership with CPD has been pivotal in this particular case.
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: I only hope that the truth about what happened receives
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: the same amount of attention that the hoax did. I'll
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: continue to pray for this troubled young man who resorted
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: to both drastic and illegal tactics to gain attention. I'll
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: also continue to pray for our city, asking that we
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: can move forward from this and begin to heal. Heard
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: it from the horse's mouth. We'll see as justice unfolds.
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: Nancy Grace crime story, signing off Goodbye Thing,