Latest / NO FILTER / She Gave Him a Home. He Gave Her a Death Sentence _ Murder of Brittany Tavar(MP3_160K)

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She Gave Him a Home. He Gave Her a Death Sentence _ Murder of Brittany Tavar(MP3_160K) · NO FILTER

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: The program you are about to watch contains actual police
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: video and photos taken from the investigation's master file. Saint Augustine,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Florida detectives Kiit Brantley and George Harrigan have flown across
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: the country to speak to the man sitting in interrogation
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Room Number one. They're investigating the mysterious disappearance of fifty
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: two year old Brittany Tavar.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: We had no idea where she was at, whether she
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: was dead, laying on the side of the street, or
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: in the woods.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: With no idea, all I knew was that there were
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: very suspicious details in this case, and the only person
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: that had that information was going to be sitting across
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: the table from me in this interview.
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: I don't know where this is going. Obviously, something you
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: guys aren't telling me.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: It's going to take all their skill to get their
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: us backs to talk. Every day, murder suspects and investigators
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: come face to face in the police interrogation room.
• 1:09
  Speaker 5: I did not kill my mom.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: It's where detectives separate truth from lives.
• 1:14
  Speaker 6: And you're gonna sit here and tell me this crap.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: The innocent from the guilty.
• 1:17
  Speaker 6: Well, can I talk to a lawyer.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: It's a place where cases are closed with killer confessions.
• 1:27
  Speaker 7: What's going on?
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: George, Kit Brandley, Joseph, where do you go by?
• 1:32
  Speaker 6: Joeorge, Joe Chip Branley and meet.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: You Though it's the middle of the night, East Coast time,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Florida detectives George Harrigan and Kit Brantley walk into Seattle
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Interview Room one, knowing now is not the time to
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: let fatigue slow them down. It's been an arduous three
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: month search, but they finally track down the man they
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: want to talk to about the disappearance of Brittany Tavar.
• 1:59
  Speaker 8: Brittany is a beautiful girl. Always kept herself very physically fit,
• 2:04
  Speaker 8: very athletic, very artistic.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Thanks to a sizable inheritance, Brittany is financially secure and
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: doesn't have to work, allowing her to express her charitable nature.
• 2:16
  Speaker 9: She was generous with everyone, all of her friends. If
• 2:20
  Speaker 9: they needed something, she would buy it for them. If
• 2:23
  Speaker 9: somebody needed a place to stay, she would let them
• 2:26
  Speaker 9: stay there.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: It's a wonderful life. One Brittany shares with her two
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: cherished be Chanfreese dogs, Huiye and Coubert.
• 2:34
  Speaker 9: She went everywhere with her dogs, every day. She would
• 2:37
  Speaker 9: walk them, take them to the beach. She just loved them.
• 2:40
  Speaker 9: They slept in her bed with her at night.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: But at the time of Brittany's disappearance, a dark cloud
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: was hanging over her idyllic life. For the past year
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: and a half, she's been embroiled in a bitter dispute
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: with a neighbor.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: Brittany used to be in a friendship with a woman
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: who live close to her. They attend the same beach club.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: During that relationship, things went south. They had several disagreements,
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: several falling outs that led to Brittany being in fear
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: of this woman.
• 3:12
  Speaker 8: My sister felt like Agnes was stalking her. That's one
• 3:15
  Speaker 8: of the reasons why she carried a video camera recording
• 3:18
  Speaker 8: all the time. She was afraid something was going to transpire.
• 3:23
  Speaker 5: And then what happened.
• 3:23
  Speaker 9: One day, Agnes took her camcorder and threw it into
• 3:27
  Speaker 9: the water, and so Brittany filed a report with the police.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: Brittany asked for a restraining order against Agnes and waited
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: for the case to make its way to court.
• 3:42
  Speaker 8: That's all she talked about, the court date. The court date,
• 3:45
  Speaker 8: everything she did kind of revolved around that and getting
• 3:49
  Speaker 8: ready for it.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: At eight fifteen am on Wednesday, July seventh, when the
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: case is called, Brittany is nowhere to be found.
• 4:01
  Speaker 8: My sister missed her court day. We were very, very
• 4:04
  Speaker 8: concerned because we all knew how afraid she was, so
• 4:09
  Speaker 8: we're thinking voila. Well, my sister was fearful. She disappears
• 4:13
  Speaker 8: right before the court date, so it was like a
• 4:16
  Speaker 8: perfect storm.
• 4:19
  Speaker 9: So I thought, Okay, I'm going to give her a
• 4:21
  Speaker 9: little bit of time. I knew right away Thursday, when
• 4:25
  Speaker 9: I did not hear from Brittany that something was going on.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: Brenda reports Brittany's disappearance to the Sheriff's office, but with
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: no evidence of foul play, they tell her there's little
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: they can do.
• 4:37
  Speaker 8: So we took matters into our own hands prior to
• 4:44
  Speaker 8: Locke Smith to gain entry to the house Brittany.
• 4:48
  Speaker 9: Brittany wasn't the Queen of clean and the house was
• 4:53
  Speaker 9: just a maculin. The floors have been cleaned, the dogs
• 4:58
  Speaker 9: weren't there, Brittany wasn't there, the truck wasn't there.
• 5:01
  Speaker 5: We knew something was going on.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Armed with the new information, Andrew and Brenda take the
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: case back to the Saint John's County Sheriff. This time
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: they take on the case, and after ruling out Britney's
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: contentious neighbor, investigators turned their focus to a man named
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: Joseph Roberts.
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: We learned from friends that she had met this young
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: man named Joe at a local bookstore. During conversation, she
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: learned that he was somewhat good at computers and she
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: was interested in some computer work. So they started a
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: friendship and at some point she offered him a room
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: in her home in exchange for the work that he
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: would do for her.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Joe lived in Britney's home for about a month before
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: her disappearance.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: With her being missing and he was nowhere around, we
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: didn't know exactly what happened, but we knew we had
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: to find him.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: To find her, Roberts makes it easy by using Britney's
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: credit cards, leaving a cross country trail of receipts.
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: We were able to view Brittany's vehicle on video pulling
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: into some of these gas stations, and it was very
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: clear that this same individual, Joseph Roberts, was the one
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: that was present.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: In fact, Roberts is the only one present.
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: We could not see Brittany in these videos made me
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: think that we were dealing with something much more serious
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: than a voluntary missing person.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Three months later, Saint Augustine detectives get the call they're
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: waiting for.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: We get a phone call from Seattle PD saying that
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: Joseph Roberts had been arrested for shoplifting and that they
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: had him in custody.
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: I literally wanted to drop everything I was doing and
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: just drive to Seattle right then.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Thirty six hours later, the detectives are sitting in an
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: interview room with their suspect.
• 7:00
  Speaker 10: Are you from here, Joe?
• 7:03
  Speaker 11: I lived in Seattle for a while when I was
• 7:06
  Speaker 11: growing up, like grade school, beginning of middle school.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: We knew that Joseph Roberts was very intelligent. We had
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: a nationwide extradition on him for stealing a vehicle, so
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: it would only be a short period of time before
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: he realized that Florida law enforcement was very interested in
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: speaking with her. I was afraid that the longer time
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: went by without us being there in front of him,
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: the more time he had to process what was going
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: on and prepare for us.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: And since they have nothing tangible linking him to a crime,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: they desperately need Joseph Roberts to talk.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: We really had no evidence that any crime was committed
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: other than he had or ve Hipple, so we had
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: to be very careful to where we didn't spook him
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: into wanting to.
• 7:57
  Speaker 5: Law Europe and not talk to us.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: Our goal was to not immediately lay all our cards
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: on the table and tell him we're from Florida.
• 8:05
  Speaker 7: We want to talk about Brittany.
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: So I walked in without basically telling him who I
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: worked for, so that he would just assume that I
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: was from Seattle law enforcement.
• 8:14
  Speaker 10: Well, what brings you to Seattle?
• 8:16
  Speaker 6: An old friend and I don't know, just I need change.
• 8:21
  Speaker 10: So old friend.
• 8:23
  Speaker 6: Yeah, old friend I hadn't talked to in a long
• 8:26
  Speaker 6: long time. Hit me up and so we got to
• 8:31
  Speaker 6: talking and I came up to hear to see.
• 8:33
  Speaker 12: Her and.
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: It was about it a female friend. It's always women
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: that make us run all over the country.
• 8:40
  Speaker 10: You're red.
• 8:41
  Speaker 5: Yeah, they do.
• 8:42
  Speaker 6: They tend to do that.
• 8:43
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: I didn't want to just go right into why did
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: you do this? How did it happen? Who did it?
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: I didn't want to go into that. The goal is
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: not to rush it. I don't want them to feel
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: rushed because the subject of the interview is going to
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: get scared and defensive right away, and there's no sense
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: in that. I tried to walk him down the path
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: of let's talk about this car. You know, why did
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: you have the car? Who gave you permission for the car?
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: How did you end up with her credit cards?
• 9:10
  Speaker 10: What do you have a vehicle? Or you borrowed somebody's
• 9:13
  Speaker 10: vehicle or.
• 9:13
  Speaker 6: What I filed somebody's vehicle?
• 9:15
  Speaker 10: Okay? And whose vehicles are?
• 9:19
  Speaker 6: Girl named Brittany?
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: Brittany from Florida, Florida? What's her last name?
• 9:25
  Speaker 6: To Varkay?
• 9:27
  Speaker 13: We met in the Barnes and Noble and she wanted
• 9:30
  Speaker 13: to start up a business tonight was in a real
• 9:32
  Speaker 13: rut down in Florida, and.
• 9:34
  Speaker 14: I said okay, And then she goes and avits me
• 9:38
  Speaker 14: a computer so that we can get this business started.
• 9:42
  Speaker 10: Right.
• 9:42
  Speaker 14: The problem is that once I start getting going on this,
• 9:46
  Speaker 14: I'm the one starting up the entire thing, and while she's.
• 9:50
  Speaker 6: Helping me out a lot, it's just it didn't work out.
• 9:53
  Speaker 6: And I was like, look, I have a friend in Seattle.
• 9:54
  Speaker 10: I'd like to get to Seattle.
• 9:56
  Speaker 6: Can I go to Seattle? And is there any way
• 9:59
  Speaker 6: you can help me.
• 10:00
  Speaker 14: She was like, okay, yeah, you can take my car
• 10:03
  Speaker 14: and go to Seattle.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: Roberts says the plan was for Brittany to fly out
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: and reclaim her car after he arrived.
• 10:11
  Speaker 13: Her family lives on as far as I know, in California,
• 10:15
  Speaker 13: and she was going to kick it up, drive it
• 10:19
  Speaker 13: from Seattle down the coast on the one on one or.
• 10:22
  Speaker 6: Whatever that highway is, and see her family. And he
• 10:26
  Speaker 6: treated it as a vacation.
• 10:29
  Speaker 7: Just didn't make sense to me.
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: It just didn't make sense that someone would let you
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: use their car to travel across the country, then they
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: would fly out later and drive it back, and they
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: would let you use their credit cards. But I felt
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: like it would be more important to establish a rapport
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: versus being confrontational, so I held back instead.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: Detective Harrigan gently starts quizzing Roberts about his use of
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Brittany's credit cards, hoping he will let something.
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: Well, where's the first place that you had to stop
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: for gas? You remember where the first place was?
• 11:08
  Speaker 6: Uh?
• 11:09
  Speaker 15: No, uh no.
• 11:12
  Speaker 10: Matter what state you were in, Well, it probably would
• 11:16
  Speaker 10: have been.
• 11:18
  Speaker 6: North Carolina.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: I think it was actually in South Carolina. On July eighth,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: the day after Brittany failed to show up for court,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: a beichanp Freese dog is found roaming the streets of Hopkins,
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: South Carolina.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: It was taken to a local vet and area up
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: in Hopkins, and when they scanned a dog, they found
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: a microchip.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: The chip leads authorities to a local Saint Augustine Vett,
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: who identifies the dog as Coubert, Brittany's prized companion. Her
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: other dog, Hueye, is found two days later.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: Brittany would never have separated herself from the two dogs,
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: so we knew something was extremely wrong.
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: They were basically children to her, so for Brittany to
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: dump the dogs on the side of the road and
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: remove their collar highly unlikely. The homicide detective in me said,
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: this is probably a homicide. We're probably never going to
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: see Brittany again.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: Once the dogs were located, we got our CSI team
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: and we went into our house looking for any type
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: of evidence for disturbance.
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: Our crime scene technicians did find what they believe were
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: trace amounts of blood, but these were very small amounts.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: We don't have a major crime scene indicating that there's
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: been a homicide or a murder that has happened at her.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: House, which means there are suspicions that Brittany has met
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: with foul play at the hands of Joseph Roberts are
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: purely circumstantial.
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: Most likely we had a strong theft of a vehicle
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: case or a fraudulent use of a credit card case.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: But I knew going into this interview that I had
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: to make this something more. It's safe to say that
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: everything hinged on this interview.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Luckily for the investigators, Roberts has had limited contact with
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: the outside world since his arrest.
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: Joseph Roberts had no idea whether we had found Brittany,
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: whether someone had seen him destroying evidence, saw him dump
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: the dogs in South Carolina. He had no idea if
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: I had that information. So I use that to my
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: advantage during the interview.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: They even keep Roberts in the dark about who they
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: are and why they're there.
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: You said it was a Monday when you left. Yeah,
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: like how long ago? Like, can you remember what Monday? Well, no,
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: what month's day?
• 13:39
  Speaker 7: I left?
• 13:39
  Speaker 6: It was Monday when we were fighting, it.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: Was like well, Detective Harrigan leads the interrogation. Detective Brandley
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: watches for subtle changes in the suspect's body language that
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: might signal Roberts's cracking under the pressure.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: As a detective, they teach you about what to look
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: for with individuals on nervousness gestures.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: Then, at about eleven fifteen pm, fifteen minutes into their interview,
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: they spot something.
• 14:08
  Speaker 6: Three or four days. I you know, it was pretty
• 14:11
  Speaker 6: much from.
• 14:12
  Speaker 15: There to there, and then when I got here.
• 14:19
  Speaker 16: I couldn't even find the person I was supposed to
• 14:21
  Speaker 16: be coming here for. So yeah, it was kind of
• 14:24
  Speaker 16: a busted trip. Yeah, I'd say so, and then obviously
• 14:31
  Speaker 16: and then just yeah, it wasn't really all the wrong.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: Joseph had these yawns that he kept doing during the interview,
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: very unrealistic yawns, and you could tell that it was
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: a fake yawn. It was either to stall his mind
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: so he could come up with an answer for us,
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: or to make it sound like he was maybe tired
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: and his mind wasn't as quick, and so if he
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: missed up or said something, oh, I'm tired, I hadn't
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: had any sleep and so many hours.
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: So it was very obvious.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: When he was doing the yawning to us that something
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: was very suspicious.
• 15:17
  Speaker 6: At this point July maybe okay.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: Either way, his behavior says he's anything but relaxed.
• 15:25
  Speaker 6: I speed July.
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: I think the truth is the truth. You shouldn't have
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: to think about what you're going to say. For me,
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: that was a turning point in the interview, because I
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: knew that he was trying to consciously make something up
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: to tell me.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: Sensing he's on the right track, Harrigan presses Roberts for
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: details of his cross country trip.
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: Did you stop anywhere else and use the card other
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: than gas? Or was it just gas and gas and food?
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: I think you're locking them into a statement. And then
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: we start looking for the little holes in his story,
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: and we start just jabbing away those stories, those little holes.
• 16:02
  Speaker 15: Yeah, you know what, I did, stop at a Walmart
• 16:04
  Speaker 15: and pick up some stuff.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: And see what truth we can reveal, and what comes
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: out of that, well.
• 16:10
  Speaker 6: I basically drove through. I went up to Indiana.
• 16:14
  Speaker 7: I like to hear him talk.
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: I like to hear how he talks, his voice, inflection,
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: and the way he takes us down the path in
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: his head.
• 16:22
  Speaker 7: And once again, all of.
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: These factors just led me to believe that he was
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: absolutely not being truthful with us.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: They asked about July tenth, the day Britney's car is
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: pulled over for speeding in Evanston, Wyoming.
• 16:36
  Speaker 15: I got pulled over, and I actually thought I was
• 16:40
  Speaker 15: because I hadn't.
• 16:41
  Speaker 6: Heard from her or anything.
• 16:43
  Speaker 15: And I was actually kind of worried because I didn't
• 16:46
  Speaker 15: have idea at the time, and my driver's license was
• 16:49
  Speaker 15: in Indiana, and I.
• 16:52
  Speaker 6: Thought she might have called it in or something.
• 16:54
  Speaker 15: That's why I thought I was getting pulled over at first,
• 16:56
  Speaker 15: So I kind of freaked.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: But the detectives quietly not unless and as Roberts digs
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: himself deeper into a hole, they wonder why would Roberts
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: be worried if Brittany had loaned him the car.
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: During this entire interview, Joe seemed very hesitant to talk
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: about the traffic stop in Wyoming.
• 17:15
  Speaker 7: He was very concerned.
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: That we knew much more than we were telling him.
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: I think he had to be concerned about that. It
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: only makes sense did someone find Brittany, Did they have
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: knowledge as he getting stopped because of what happened in Florida.
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: I think he struggled with how much he opened up
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: to us because.
• 17:36
  Speaker 7: He had to have a balance. He wasn't sure how
• 17:38
  Speaker 7: much he should give us.
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: He had to give us these answers as if, oh,
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: I was scared that Brittany had called in the car stolen,
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: that she was mad at me because I hadn't contact her.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: Harrogan seizes the opening to ask about his communication with
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: Brittany while he was on the road.
• 17:52
  Speaker 6: What was the plan?
• 17:53
  Speaker 10: How she's supposed to call?
• 17:54
  Speaker 14: It?
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: Did?
• 17:55
  Speaker 6: But I had her cell phone?
• 17:57
  Speaker 10: Okay, So she was supposed to call Yoda cellphone.
• 17:59
  Speaker 6: Yeah, she was supposed to me on the cell phone.
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: And unfortunately the cell phone died because I forgot to
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: grab it when I left.
• 18:05
  Speaker 6: I didn't have the charger with me.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: The strategy of playing their cards close to the vest,
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: keeping Roberts in the dark about what they know, seems
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: to be working. When Roberts makes an unexpected admission.
• 18:18
  Speaker 6: I figured she just got something happened and she got
• 18:22
  Speaker 6: pissed at me, and.
• 18:26
  Speaker 16: You know, I'd also kind of screwed her over a
• 18:29
  Speaker 16: little bit, so because I took some money and some jewelry.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: Roberts tears through his professed veil of innocence by confessing
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: he stole from Brittany.
• 18:41
  Speaker 10: Did she find out about that?
• 18:42
  Speaker 5: Yeah?
• 18:42
  Speaker 6: I think so.
• 18:43
  Speaker 10: I don't know, so you don't know. She never confronted
• 18:46
  Speaker 10: you about.
• 18:47
  Speaker 6: I haven't I haven't talked to her about it.
• 18:50
  Speaker 10: How much money did you take?
• 18:51
  Speaker 6: A couple hundred bucks?
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: I think at that point he wanted to figure out
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: if we knew anything or not, and get a feel
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: of what when we didn't know.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: The rapport detectives Harrigan and brantleyan built with Roberts is
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: slowly paying off like that when he unexpectedly turns things
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: upside down.
• 19:11
  Speaker 6: I have a question for you. Car theft is one thing.
• 19:18
  Speaker 6: Why is my bounty so high?
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: A few hours earlier, a judge set bail at five
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars, one hundred times more than a typical
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: bond for a stolen vehicle.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: Half million dollar bond for stolen vehicle. He was smart
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: enough to realize that that was a pretty high bond.
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: Walking into this interview, I knew Joseph Roberts was a
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: very intelligent young man. He certainly was not stupid for
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: all intents and purposes. So I was waiting for some
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: of these questions. I knew some of these questions would
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: come up in one way or the other. So when
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: he did ask about the high bond amount, basically his
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: suspicion because you know, he's got this high bond him
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: out for a stolen vehicle out of Florida.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: But it's the first time Roberts hints he knows the
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: game they've been playing.
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: I knew that was going to be a turning point
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: in the interview. I think he was trying to shift
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: gears and put some of the burden back on me
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: so that he could take it off of him.
• 20:14
  Speaker 7: So it was concerning for me.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: It's too soon for Harrigan to come clean about why
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: he's really here. Telling Roberts they're investigating a homicide will
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: almost certainly shut the interview down.
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: I think Joseph knew the answer to some of his questions,
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: and I simply turned that question around just to see
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: how he would respond to it. Warren's out of Florida, Yeah,
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: I was. I mean, obviously, it's concerning that it's that high.
• 20:42
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: I was hoping that maybe you could shed some light
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: on maybe there's something more to the story than just that.
• 20:49
  Speaker 10: I don't know. I mean, is there something else you
• 20:51
  Speaker 10: stole from her that is more important than a car?
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: I mean, no, I've as far as I know, I
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: just the car and the jewelry and.
• 21:05
  Speaker 6: The cards.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: Harrogan can see Roberts is skeptical, but he continues his
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: line of questioning until Roberts stops him in his tracks.
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: She let you use one of them, but she didn't
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: know about the other one, right, you know.
• 21:22
  Speaker 6: I think I should probably get a lawyer.
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: When those words came out of his mouth, it took
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: the wind out of my sails.
• 21:32
  Speaker 7: I felt like we had hit a brick wall.
• 21:34
  Speaker 10: You think you probably should?
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I need to talk to a lawyer
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: because I don't know where this is going. Obviously something
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: you guys aren't telling me. And yeah, I'm not sure
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: what you mean by that.
• 21:49
  Speaker 6: Well, can I talk to a lawyer?
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: We were empty handed at that point. Basically, we're going
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: to go back and have to tell the family that
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: we don't have any more answers than what we did before.
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: Was going to be very disappointed.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: For the first time, the interview room falls deadly silent.
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: I was hoping at the end of this case, I
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: was going to be able to call Britney's friends and
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: her family and tell them exactly what had happened, whether
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: it was good news, or bad news, and I wasn't
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: going to be able to do that.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: And to make matters worse, detectives know in their hearts
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: they have Britney's killer.
• 22:36
  Speaker 5: We knew we had the story.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: Something bad has happened to her and he's responsible, but
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: we had no evidence to prove that.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: They can't help. But wonder if it's their responsibility had
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: they picked the wrong strategy.
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: If I had her body, if I had forensic evidence
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: at the house, maybe I would have been more confident.
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: Maybe I would have been a little more assertive and
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: asked them some hard questions, but I didn't have any
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: evidence that I knew.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Desperate to keep Roberts talking, Harrogan decides to play the
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: only card they have left in their hand, the family card.
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: Well, listen, because you said you want to talk to
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: an attorney. You're a smart guy, and you know I'm
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: not going to ask you any more questions about the case.
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: But I do want to tell you your family's very
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: worried about you, and they do want to talk to you.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: Detective Harrigan is not blowing smoke, so listen. Weeks earlier,
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: they spoke to Robert's family looking for background information.
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: We were able to make contact with an aunt who
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: lives in Indianapolis. She shed some light on his past
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: for us. We learned that he actually spent his childhood
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: in the Seattle, Washington area.
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: His mother was homeless on the streets. Joseph doesn't know
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: who his father is, possibly a homeless guy as well.
• 24:01
  Speaker 5: His mother wasn't able.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: To care for him. His grandmother was trying to help rais.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: Him destined for a life on the streets. Robert's aunt
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: steps in and offers him a more promising path.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: Joseph's aunt flew out from Indianapolis and took custody of
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: Joseph and he was raised the rest of his high
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: school years in Indianapolis.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: Roberts proves to be a smart kid. At eighteen, he
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: goes off to college to study computer science.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: He was smoking marijuana and he got in trouble. They
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: kicked him out to college. He went back to Indianapolis
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: and lived for a short time.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: But after a falling out with his aunt, Roberts packs
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: his bags and hits the road.
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: He became a drifter. He had a ve hic goal,
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: he had clothing, he had a computer, and he really
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: didn't have a plan he just started going south and
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: ended up here in Saint Augustine, Florida.
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: We promised Joseph's aunt in Indiana that if we made
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: contact with him, we would give her the opportunity to
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: speak with him. Do you want to talk to your
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: aunt before I leave? Do you want me to get
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: you on the phone with her?
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 25:21
  Speaker 5: Sure. What we were hoping is that.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: Maybe she could talk him into speaking to us about
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: the case. That was our last resort.
• 25:32
  Speaker 14: I just I need to know my options before I
• 25:34
  Speaker 14: come back to you, of course, I understand.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: For a long, awkward moment, Harrigan stands silently, trying to
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: come up with something, anything to keep the conversation going,
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: but he has nowhere to go.
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: There was a part of me that really just wanted
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: to get out of the room for a little bit.
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: I just needed to kind of cool off.
• 25:58
  Speaker 10: Hold on just a second, we'll get on the final Traine.
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: I went through several emotions. I was frustrated, disappointed, angry.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: It's disappointing that you don't get that confession that you wanted,
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: and not so much just for us, but for the
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: family as well, because the family has all their hopes
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: in to you and finding out what happened to their
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: loved one, and when you go in and.
• 26:29
  Speaker 5: You get nothing, it can feel like a failure.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: The frustration is compounded since Brittany's family and friends still
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: have no idea what has happened to her.
• 26:42
  Speaker 8: At that point, I wouldn't say we lost all hope,
• 26:46
  Speaker 8: but we were also sad that it appeared more evident
• 26:49
  Speaker 8: that there was foul play.
• 26:50
  Speaker 5: I already knew she was not alive.
• 26:53
  Speaker 9: I really just was thinking, let's just find her.
• 26:56
  Speaker 5: That's all.
• 26:57
  Speaker 9: I wanted to just find her, so, oh, you know,
• 27:00
  Speaker 9: we can get some closure to this.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: For the next thirty one minutes, Joseph Roberts, the one
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: person who might know where Brittany is, sits in seattlepd's
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: interview Room one alone.
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: We could see him on video while I was sitting there.
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: I felt like he was hard thinking, but I didn't
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: have any hopes.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: Detective Brentley tries to reach Robert's aunt in Indiana, perhaps
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: she can convince her nephew to do the right thing
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: and confess.
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: She never answered, so we waited about thirty minutes to
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: see if she would call us back. Because we kept
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: bringing the phone, leaving messages and she never called us back.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: Fifty four minutes into the interview, detectives have no choice
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: but to shut it down.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: We really didn't have any evidence to arrest him for
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: homicide at this point, so our only option was to
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: start at ground zero again and start trying to see
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: if we can locate Brittany and see if we can
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: link Joseph Roberts to her disappearance somehow.
• 28:15
  Speaker 10: I can't get your aunt on the phone.
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: When we walked back into the room, it was simply
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: to let him know that we couldn't get a hold
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: of his aunt. At that point. I was hungry, I
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: was tired. I'm three thousand miles away from home. I
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: just wanted to get out of there. Maybe I'll try
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: to set something up where we can hook up with
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: you tomorrow and let you talk to her. Or I'll
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: just tell her to somehow reach out to you. I mean,
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: I don't know how it works over at the jail,
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: but I'll tell him to reach out.
• 28:42
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I have all my idea.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: Then Roberts shocks everyone, all right, I'll talk to you.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: Joseph Roberts rescinds his request for an attorney.
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: The weight that was on my shoulders, and I'm sure
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: George is. It was like, Oh, this is awesome, this
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: is great that he is reinitiating with us and wants
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: to talk to us.
• 29:08
  Speaker 7: I was surprised. At that minute. I knew I had
• 29:10
  Speaker 7: to sit down and listen to what he had to say.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: At that point, you don't surround them and start throwing
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: a whole bunch of questions at them.
• 29:17
  Speaker 5: Quit and let them talk. I was ready to listen.
• 29:21
  Speaker 6: I have a couple of requests. First, my nerves are shot.
• 29:28
  Speaker 6: I want a cigarette really badly. If that's something you
• 29:31
  Speaker 6: can make happen, if.
• 29:33
  Speaker 10: We changed it, if we can make that head.
• 29:34
  Speaker 6: Yeah, that's why I'm out, all right.
• 29:37
  Speaker 10: Requests number one?
• 29:38
  Speaker 7: What else.
• 29:40
  Speaker 10: I don't don't ask for, like a helicopter, And yet.
• 29:43
  Speaker 6: That was exactly what I was gonna ask for.
• 29:50
  Speaker 10: All right.
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: They said they we can make this cigarette happen, but
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: they have to do it afterwards.
• 29:55
  Speaker 12: It's it's not our police department, so okay, we don't
• 29:58
  Speaker 12: have the rules here. They probably worry about doing it here. Yeah,
• 30:02
  Speaker 12: well I can't go out on the Yeah, he said,
• 30:07
  Speaker 12: we'll go out on the patio.
• 30:09
  Speaker 10: He said that they have to wait until I can't.
• 30:11
  Speaker 6: Go patio and then come back.
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: And I tried, all right, what else is that? That
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: it or something else on your mind?
• 30:25
  Speaker 6: I don't think you guys have control or anything else.
• 30:28
  Speaker 5: I mean, I don't know.
• 30:30
  Speaker 10: You're intelligent, you know, you know how the game is played.
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: Obviously, cooperation means a lot when someone thinks about whether
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: somebody's a monster or whether there's somebody that made a mistake.
• 30:40
  Speaker 10: Simply put, that's what it is.
• 30:44
  Speaker 6: Well, and I'll tell you this, I made a huge mistake.
• 30:48
  Speaker 6: I don't know. I don't know how it happened. I
• 30:52
  Speaker 6: don't I don't know why it happened. I don't even
• 30:55
  Speaker 6: really remember it. I freaked out, and uh.
• 31:05
  Speaker 5: And I ran.
• 31:07
  Speaker 7: I was skeptical.
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: I didn't know if we were going to get a
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: story that made no sense, or just that he had
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: been sitting in there this whole time thinking about another
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: lie to tell us.
• 31:18
  Speaker 7: So I was very skeptical.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: The detectives keep the pressure up by pretending to have
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: the upper hand.
• 31:25
  Speaker 12: We pretty much know what happened, you know, but well
• 31:30
  Speaker 12: what actually occurred that I don't.
• 31:35
  Speaker 6: Honestly, I don't honestly know. I know I was extremely angry.
• 31:41
  Speaker 6: I know I was really upset.
• 31:43
  Speaker 14: I knew that my gut was telling me to leave
• 31:46
  Speaker 14: because I was so upset with how.
• 31:48
  Speaker 6: Things were going.
• 31:50
  Speaker 14: Tuesday night, we got we got in an argument, basically,
• 31:56
  Speaker 14: and I I was pissed so and she wouldn't shut
• 32:02
  Speaker 14: up about the stupid court case that she had to
• 32:05
  Speaker 14: go to. And I'm talking, she wouldn't shut up about it.
• 32:08
  Speaker 14: And I was supposed to go with her the next
• 32:11
  Speaker 14: day to court. And that night she came to me
• 32:14
  Speaker 14: again and said, hey, I need you to do these
• 32:17
  Speaker 14: videos up for me again and make me two DVDs.
• 32:20
  Speaker 14: I was like, okay, and we gotten into argument about
• 32:25
  Speaker 14: something else. I don't really remember anymore exactly the details
• 32:29
  Speaker 14: of it, but I made the DVDs and I left
• 32:33
  Speaker 14: them out on the counter, and I remember waking up
• 32:37
  Speaker 14: and hearing her go off about something, and I don't really.
• 32:40
  Speaker 6: Remember much after that. And then.
• 32:45
  Speaker 10: After and then I remember.
• 32:50
  Speaker 15: Standing over and she's dead and there's blood everywhere.
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: I would take a deep breath for a minute and
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: think about the part that you're leaving out, like how
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: she ended up on the floor with blood all over.
• 33:09
  Speaker 3: I mean, how did that happen?
• 33:16
  Speaker 11: I see, guys, I I don't really remember.
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: I don't know, he said, I can't remember. I blacked out.
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: I can't remember everything. But we let him talk, and
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: then we go back and help him try to remember.
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: When traumatic events happen in people's lives, they could black
• 33:38
  Speaker 3: certain things out or try.
• 33:40
  Speaker 7: To put that out of their mind.
• 33:42
  Speaker 3: I believe that he still had this in his memory,
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: and I could see it in his eyes.
• 33:48
  Speaker 12: Change your time. It's gonna be it's gonna be difficult,
• 33:52
  Speaker 12: you know, to remember because your mind wants to block
• 33:55
  Speaker 12: it out, and you just had to kind of try
• 33:58
  Speaker 12: to concentrate and take your time think about it.
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: Roberts then recalls the morning of July seventh, twenty ten,
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: the last of Brittany Tavar's life.
• 34:08
  Speaker 11: I remember waking up and hearing her go off about
• 34:14
  Speaker 11: no names on the DVDs, and I came out and
• 34:17
  Speaker 11: I was yelling at her and calling her and I grateful,
• 34:21
  Speaker 11: and then.
• 34:25
  Speaker 6: I picked up something and I hit her.
• 34:28
  Speaker 10: Do you know what it was that you picked up.
• 34:33
  Speaker 6: Hammer?
• 34:34
  Speaker 3: I think how many times had you hit her?
• 34:41
  Speaker 6: Too many?
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: I think once he got past that initial stage of
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: starting to tell us the details, I think it became
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: easier every second to tell us the details.
• 34:55
  Speaker 7: It's very hard to hold in.
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: That kind of information, and he had for a very
• 34:58
  Speaker 3: long time, and he had no one to talk and.
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: He wanted to get that off his chest, and so
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: we let him spill his guts.
• 35:06
  Speaker 10: Are you sure that it was a hammer?
• 35:10
  Speaker 5: Yeah?
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: How many times do you think you hit her with it?
• 35:14
  Speaker 10: More than once?
• 35:15
  Speaker 6: Yeah, more than three times, probably like five maybe, I don't.
• 35:20
  Speaker 10: Know where in the head, body head.
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: We were shocked at the brutality of it. He picked
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: up a hammer and actually pounded her in the head,
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: which tells me that there was a lot of rage
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: and anger there.
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: Now our worst suspicions are a reality.
• 35:47
  Speaker 7: You know, Brittany is no longer with us.
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: But just because we had obtained a confession does not
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: mean this is over.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: Defense attorneys can come in there and pick things apart.
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: So the more detail get, the more solid your story is,
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: the more solid the evidence is.
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: As Detective Harrigan leaves the room for a phone call,
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: Detective Brandley steps in.
• 36:11
  Speaker 10: So what did you do? What did I do next?
• 36:15
  Speaker 5: After, you know, after she laying on the floor and
• 36:20
  Speaker 5: when I.
• 36:20
  Speaker 17: Cover her up with blanket for a while and I
• 36:23
  Speaker 17: kind of freaked out and bought a pack of cigarettes,
• 36:27
  Speaker 17: and then sat on the back of couch and changed
• 36:29
  Speaker 17: both about a pack of cigarettes until I had decided
• 36:34
  Speaker 17: what I was going.
• 36:34
  Speaker 18: To do, and then I did it, and which was
• 36:41
  Speaker 18: basically clean up all the blood pork beach everywhere, And
• 36:46
  Speaker 18: basically my goal was to my time. I didn't think
• 36:51
  Speaker 18: I would be getting away with anything. I just thought
• 36:53
  Speaker 18: I would be buying time.
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: Roberts also knows he has to dispose of Britney's body.
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: Hey, he told us that he tried to put her
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: body in the attic, and he said rigor mortis had
• 37:03
  Speaker 3: set in so he literally couldn't fit her through the opening.
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: He decides to put Britney's body into the back of
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: her car and wait for nightfall to dump it.
• 37:14
  Speaker 12: At that point, you had to make a decision about
• 37:17
  Speaker 12: what to do with.
• 37:17
  Speaker 6: The dogs, right the dogs.
• 37:23
  Speaker 18: I decided to take them with me because I knew
• 37:26
  Speaker 18: if I left the dogs there, they'd make a lot
• 37:29
  Speaker 18: of noise and.
• 37:32
  Speaker 6: Cause problems.
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: The next day, as he passes through South Carolina, he
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: dumps the dogs, assuming they won't be linked to Brittany.
• 37:46
  Speaker 10: How much do you know about the dogs? Did you
• 37:49
  Speaker 10: follow us recovering.
• 37:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I do you know?
• 37:51
  Speaker 6: You guys recovered the dogs.
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: Well, Roberts has clearly described the murder, he's not yet
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: offered the detectives the last and most crucial p of
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: the puzzle.
• 38:01
  Speaker 3: The most important part of a homicide case is to
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: prove that a homicide occurred, and to prove that a
• 38:07
  Speaker 3: homicide occurred, you have to have a body. So that
• 38:10
  Speaker 3: became a focus during the interview. I had to find her.
• 38:14
  Speaker 6: I know there's a piece missing.
• 38:15
  Speaker 14: I don't know what happened, man, I honestly don't because
• 38:19
  Speaker 14: there's there was blood everywhere.
• 38:21
  Speaker 6: And I say everywhere, I mean it was all.
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: Well, the biggest glaring question, I'm sure you know I
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: want to know is where is she?
• 38:33
  Speaker 14: Okay, I can not exact exact location. I can give
• 38:37
  Speaker 14: you general spot. It's a start, yeah, piece of paper
• 38:42
  Speaker 14: and a yeah.
• 38:43
  Speaker 6: Make life easy.
• 38:45
  Speaker 3: He seemed very confident, especially with wanting to draw us
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: a map. I was very confident that he was telling
• 38:50
  Speaker 3: us the truth at that point, because he knew that
• 38:53
  Speaker 3: we were going to find out very quickly whether he.
• 38:55
  Speaker 6: Was lying or not.
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: With the casualness of planning a fishing trip, the three
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: men disco roads, intersections and landmarks.
• 39:03
  Speaker 18: Back here, there's there's a road that runs here, but
• 39:05
  Speaker 18: they're like dirt roads or something.
• 39:07
  Speaker 10: It's before lights the road right where the stop light's at.
• 39:11
  Speaker 6: I'm not sure if it's before. I think it is before.
• 39:14
  Speaker 7: And then there's a hill here and then there's like.
• 39:16
  Speaker 10: A little thing and she's like right there. Now she
• 39:21
  Speaker 10: buried or just tossed out there. She's semi buried.
• 39:25
  Speaker 11: I couldn't get the shovel and so it just kind
• 39:28
  Speaker 11: of it No, not really, I don't just I mean
• 39:32
  Speaker 11: just she's just kind of laid out there.
• 39:33
  Speaker 6: She well, yeah, she's wrapped up in blankets and some
• 39:39
  Speaker 6: trash bags.
• 39:39
  Speaker 10: Okay, is she is? She all together?
• 39:42
  Speaker 7: Yeah?
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: Harrogan leaves the room to contact his officers back in Florida.
• 39:49
  Speaker 3: It's very important too, as soon as we have that information,
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: to process that information and deal with it, take action
• 39:55
  Speaker 3: on that information.
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: At first light, the Saint John's County Sheriff's sends a
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: CSI team to the location. There, they find a large
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: black trash bag containing bloody towels, clothing, and some jewelry.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: A short distance away, they spot several groupings of bones,
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: including a skull.
• 40:17
  Speaker 3: There were obvious signs at the scene with the blunt
• 40:20
  Speaker 3: force trauma to the head, as described by Jessup Roberts.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: The remains are taken to the coroner, who uses the
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: teeth to confirm what Harrigan and Brantley already know. It's
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: Brittany Tavar.
• 40:35
  Speaker 3: I did speak with Brittany's brother Andrew. Obviously he was
• 40:39
  Speaker 3: very grief stricken, but he was happy because the family
• 40:44
  Speaker 3: had spent a long time every day wondering if they
• 40:47
  Speaker 3: were ever going to see her again, and at least
• 40:48
  Speaker 3: he knew the answer to that question.
• 40:52
  Speaker 8: We were hoping for closure in that one we would
• 40:55
  Speaker 8: find out what happened to her, and two we would
• 40:57
  Speaker 8: find out where she was. So we were relieved and
• 41:01
  Speaker 8: we were grateful.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: With the confession behind them, the tension in the room
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: is lifted and the interrogation becomes a conversation.
• 41:11
  Speaker 10: Did you know who we were when we came in
• 41:12
  Speaker 10: the rooms?
• 41:13
  Speaker 6: You know, I had no idea.
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: In a moment of candid reflection, Roberts realizes the enormity
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: of his actions.
• 41:19
  Speaker 5: He lost control and it was rage and you don't
• 41:24
  Speaker 5: need to.
• 41:24
  Speaker 6: Remember, I mean, let's just put it this way.
• 41:28
  Speaker 5: There was.
• 41:30
  Speaker 6: If I look at her. Actually, there's no fricking point.
• 41:34
  Speaker 6: The one person I've never heard anybody else.
• 41:38
  Speaker 7: In my life.
• 41:39
  Speaker 6: You know, she never did anything wrong by me. She
• 41:42
  Speaker 6: was trying to help me. She's probably one of the
• 41:45
  Speaker 6: only basically I killed, the one person that was trying to.
• 41:50
  Speaker 5: Try and help you out.
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I understand, you know, and I understand how Brittany.
• 41:57
  Speaker 5: You know, Brittany reached out to a lot of people
• 41:59
  Speaker 5: and try to help a peace out.
• 42:00
  Speaker 6: She didn't share this.
• 42:03
  Speaker 3: Kip and I were certain that this kid was not
• 42:07
  Speaker 3: a sociopath. He was not some serial killer terrorizing people
• 42:11
  Speaker 3: across the country, and we had empathy for him inside
• 42:16
  Speaker 3: of that room.
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: But then Roberts turns the tables one more time.
• 42:22
  Speaker 3: Is there anything more about the actual event that you
• 42:25
  Speaker 3: haven't told us? I mean, was it simply an act
• 42:28
  Speaker 3: of rage and he used a hammer? Or was there
• 42:30
  Speaker 3: was there a different weapon? Was there more violence involved there?
• 42:36
  Speaker 4: All I know is there was a hammer, and that
• 42:39
  Speaker 4: there was a ridiculous amount of blood afterwards, and that.
• 42:46
  Speaker 6: She was still alive for a little while, and that
• 42:52
  Speaker 6: her throat was cut as well. And I don't know
• 42:54
  Speaker 6: how that happened.
• 42:58
  Speaker 3: Now you're saying that because you're having an actual memory
• 43:01
  Speaker 3: of seeing it cut, I don't know how that happened, obviously,
• 43:07
  Speaker 3: now it was her throat cut before the hammer or
• 43:10
  Speaker 3: after the hammer.
• 43:12
  Speaker 6: I don't know. I would assume.
• 43:15
  Speaker 3: After, So did you did you cut her because she
• 43:18
  Speaker 3: was still alive for a few minutes.
• 43:20
  Speaker 6: I I mean it was it was after, but I
• 43:37
  Speaker 6: honestly don't know when.
• 43:39
  Speaker 11: I don't.
• 43:40
  Speaker 3: At some point he realized that she was still alive
• 43:44
  Speaker 3: and actually cut her throat to finish her off. So
• 43:47
  Speaker 3: that concerned me because I had given him the monster
• 43:51
  Speaker 3: versus mistake speech. But I think he went from a
• 43:55
  Speaker 3: mistake to monster when he took that knife and cut
• 43:57
  Speaker 3: her throat.
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: Just revealed is that he really didn't care about her
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: life at that point, because he had the opportunity to
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: go to the telephone and down nine to one one
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: for help, but instead, well, I'm gonna go ahead and
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: finish her off.
• 44:17
  Speaker 3: Within minutes, he went from active rage making a mistake
• 44:22
  Speaker 3: to cold blooded killer.
• 44:30
  Speaker 8: She fed him, she clothed him, and she gave him shelter,
• 44:34
  Speaker 8: and he ends up taking her life. It's tragic that
• 44:40
  Speaker 8: her kindness and her charity and her generosity led to
• 44:45
  Speaker 8: her downfall.
• 44:48
  Speaker 3: Brittany Tavar was a very kind hearted person. She genuinely
• 44:52
  Speaker 3: wanted to help people, so very difficult to accept that
• 44:56
  Speaker 3: she's no longer in this community.
• 45:00
  Speaker 6: Hey, Joe, I'm going to take you back to the jail.
• 45:04
  Speaker 10: Take those cards with you.
• 45:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah, just put me in a shirt pocket sund cigarette.
• 45:10
  Speaker 10: Yeah, then we're still getting.
• 45:11
  Speaker 16: A cigarette and got to take this out stroke out
• 45:15
  Speaker 16: a side.
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: When Roberts is brought back to Saint Augustine, prosecutors considered
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: charging him with premeditated first degree murder.
• 45:26
  Speaker 19: I can make an argument that smashing her in the
• 45:29
  Speaker 19: head over thirteen times is first degree murder because to me,
• 45:32
  Speaker 19: every time you pull that hammer back, it gives you
• 45:35
  Speaker 19: time to think about what you're doing. The fact that
• 45:38
  Speaker 19: he also cut her throat was an extra strong piece
• 45:41
  Speaker 19: of evidence for premeditation for first degree murder.
• 45:44
  Speaker 6: You know, I think I should probably get.
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: A lawyer, But Robert's defense attorney counters by filing a
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: motion to suppress his confession.
• 45:52
  Speaker 19: When someone invokes their Fifth Amendment right to a lawyer,
• 45:55
  Speaker 19: you have to cease talking to them.
• 45:57
  Speaker 10: You think you probably should.
• 45:58
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I I need to talk to a lawyer,
• 46:01
  Speaker 4: because I don't know where this is going. Obviously something
• 46:06
  Speaker 4: you guys aren't telling me.
• 46:08
  Speaker 6: And yeah, I'm not.
• 46:09
  Speaker 10: Sure what you mean by that.
• 46:12
  Speaker 6: Well, can I talk to a lawyer?
• 46:13
  Speaker 10: I mean absolutely, But do you want to?
• 46:17
  Speaker 3: Ah, is there anything that we can help you out
• 46:21
  Speaker 3: with as far as getting in touch with your family?
• 46:24
  Speaker 3: Would you like to talk to your aunt at any
• 46:26
  Speaker 3: point in the near future.
• 46:28
  Speaker 19: So the question is when they continued to talk to
• 46:30
  Speaker 19: him after offering him to reach out to his aunt
• 46:33
  Speaker 19: and stuff. Were they trying to get him to like
• 46:35
  Speaker 19: them so that he'd talk to him If that's what
• 46:37
  Speaker 19: it was, and a judge determined that, then he could
• 46:39
  Speaker 19: have suppressed the confession.
• 46:42
  Speaker 17: Basically, I killed a one person that was trying to
• 46:45
  Speaker 17: trying to help you out.
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: Prosecutors realize that without the confession they have no case.
• 46:51
  Speaker 19: If he hadn't confessed up there, he probably still would
• 46:53
  Speaker 19: have been extradited back here for the grand theft of
• 46:55
  Speaker 19: motor vehicle, but the maximum sentence he could have got
• 46:58
  Speaker 19: was five years on that and at the end of
• 46:59
  Speaker 19: the day, we wouldn't have had the body, no confession,
• 47:02
  Speaker 19: limited circumstantial evidence connecting him to the crime. Mister Roberts
• 47:07
  Speaker 19: was saying a pertey Tabar's residents. An argument ensued when
• 47:11
  Speaker 19: they were there.
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: Unwilling to take a chance, they offered Roberts a plea bargain.
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: In twenty fourteen, almost four years after the murder, Roberts
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: pleads guilty to second degree murder and is sentenced to
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: thirty years in prison with no possibility of parole.
• 48:00
  Speaker 19: Four