Latest / Crime and Horror / Nosey neighbor recorded his MURDERER... - MrBallen

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Nosey neighbor recorded his MURDERER... - MrBallen · Crime and Horror

0:00
Speaker 1: On December 30th, 2016, a woman sat down at her
0:03
Speaker 1: computer in her New Mexico home and pulled up the
0:05
Speaker 1: video feed from her surveillance system. Everybody in her neighborhood
0:09
Speaker 1: was terrified. There was a killer on the loose, and
0:12
Speaker 1: the police did not seem to have any idea who
0:14
Speaker 1: it could be or what their motivation was. So on
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Speaker 1: her computer, she scrolled back two days and began going
0:20
Speaker 1: through the footage frame by frame, looking for anything suspicious.
0:24
Speaker 1: And for a while, really nothing stood out on this recording.
0:28
Speaker 1: The only thing that really happened was her neighbor came
0:30
Speaker 1: home from a trip at some point, and then some
0:32
Speaker 1: time passed, and then the neighbor left again. That was
0:34
Speaker 1: basically it. And so the woman was starting to think
0:36
Speaker 1: that what she was doing was kind of pointless. Until,
0:40
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, in the corner of the screen,
0:42
Speaker 1: a dark figure appeared. But before we get into today's story,
0:47
Speaker 1: if you're a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious
0:49
Speaker 1: delivered in story format, then you've come to the right place,
0:52
Speaker 1: because that's all we do, and we upload two, three,
0:55
Speaker 1: even four times a week. So if that's of interest
0:58
Speaker 1: to you, please sneak into the Like Button's bedroom and
1:01
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1:07
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Speaker 1: on all notifications so you don't miss any of our uploads. Okay,
1:13
Speaker 1: let's get into today's story. On the evening of December 28, 2016,
1:38
Speaker 1: a 54-year-old man named Don Fluitt drove down the highway
1:42
Speaker 1: into the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Beside him was
1:45
Speaker 1: his 11-year-old daughter, Sienna, who had fallen asleep in the
1:48
Speaker 1: passenger seat. They'd been driving for nearly 12 hours, all
1:52
Speaker 1: the way from Don's mother's home in California, where they'd
1:55
Speaker 1: just spent Christmas. But the holiday had not really been
1:58
Speaker 1: a happy one, because a few weeks earlier, Don's sister, Janice,
2:02
Speaker 1: had died of breast cancer. And Janice was really one
2:06
Speaker 1: of the only true close family members Don had left.
2:09
Speaker 1: His dad and his other sister were both already dead,
2:12
Speaker 1: and his younger brother Dennis wasn't talking to him after
2:15
Speaker 1: a big argument the year before. So, as soon as
2:17
Speaker 1: Don had gotten the news that Janice had unfortunately passed away,
2:21
Speaker 1: he'd immediately negotiated with his ex-wife to take their daughter, Sienna,
2:26
Speaker 1: and go see his mom. He wished they could have
2:28
Speaker 1: stayed longer, but he had to get back to work.
2:31
Speaker 1: Don had a job at an agency that served the
2:33
Speaker 1: developmentally disabled, and there was a big meeting coming up
2:36
Speaker 1: that he just couldn't miss. Just then, Don slammed on
2:40
Speaker 1: his brakes. Traffic ahead was piling up, and the car
2:43
Speaker 1: in front of him had slowed down to an abrupt stop.
2:46
Speaker 1: Don felt a surge of anger arise in his chest,
2:48
Speaker 1: and he laid on his horn. He was about to
2:51
Speaker 1: roll down the window so he could scream at the
2:53
Speaker 1: driver in front of him, but then he saw Sienna
2:55
Speaker 1: open her eyes in alarm in the seat next to him,
2:57
Speaker 1: and he stopped himself. Don took a deep breath and
3:00
Speaker 1: reminded himself that it was just traffic, and it wasn't
3:03
Speaker 1: worth getting angry about. Don used to have kind of
3:06
Speaker 1: a temper when it came to driving, but in recent years,
3:09
Speaker 1: he'd been working hard to control it so he could
3:11
Speaker 1: set a good example for his daughter. So after the
3:14
Speaker 1: traffic finally let up, and as he rounded an exit
3:17
Speaker 1: off the highway and drove through downtown Albuquerque toward his house,
3:20
Speaker 1: Don deliberately tried to shift his focus to something positive.
3:24
Speaker 1: It was already Wednesday, which meant it was only a
3:26
Speaker 1: few more days until Spaghetti Sunday. and that always made
3:30
Speaker 1: Don smile. Spaghetti Sunday was a tradition that he and
3:34
Speaker 1: Sienna had started together a few years ago by making
3:36
Speaker 1: big batches of food every Sunday after church and bringing
3:40
Speaker 1: the food downtown to feed the homeless. At first, it
3:43
Speaker 1: had just been the two of them, but over time,
3:46
Speaker 1: more people had joined in the effort, and pretty soon
3:48
Speaker 1: it had grown into a real event with whole groups
3:50
Speaker 1: of volunteers coming out to serve food and drop off
3:53
Speaker 1: clothes and canned goods. Don felt proud that he'd created
3:56
Speaker 1: something so meaningful for the community, And it was especially
4:00
Speaker 1: important to him that he had done it with Sienna. Finally,
4:04
Speaker 1: Don turned down a quiet residential street and parked in
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Speaker 1: the garage of a two-story stucco townhouse decorated with Christmas lights.
4:12
Speaker 1: He got out of the car with Sienna, grabbed their suitcases,
4:14
Speaker 1: and walked to the front door and unlocked it. And
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Speaker 1: when his daughter stepped inside, she shrieked with excitement because
4:20
Speaker 1: waiting for her under the Christmas tree was a brand
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Speaker 1: new bicycle wrapped in a shiny bow. She turned around
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Speaker 1: and asked her dad if she could give the bike
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Speaker 1: a spin around the block right now. Don wanted to
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Speaker 1: say yes, but it was already dark out, and this
4:33
Speaker 1: was supposed to be a quick stop at his house,
4:36
Speaker 1: and when he looked at the clock, he saw that
4:37
Speaker 1: it was almost 7. He'd already had Sienna for most
4:41
Speaker 1: of December, including the whole holiday, and he had to
4:43
Speaker 1: get her back to her mother's house soon. Don and
4:46
Speaker 1: his ex-wife, Christine White, had a pretty civil relationship, but
4:50
Speaker 1: he knew she would be annoyed if he asked for
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Speaker 1: more time. So Don told Sienna the bike would have
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Speaker 1: to wait, But for now, just go grab whatever she
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Speaker 1: needed from her room and then they would leave. As
5:00
Speaker 1: Sienna ran off, Don noticed something strange. He hadn't seen
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Speaker 1: his golden retriever, Buddy, who usually rushed out to greet
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Speaker 1: him whenever he came home. So Don walked through the
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Speaker 1: living room and down the hall, calling out Buddy's name
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Speaker 1: and finally found the dog cowering in the bedroom. Don
5:16
Speaker 1: extended his hand and Buddy skittishly came forward to sniff it.
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Speaker 1: And Don was a little unnerved by this. Buddy usually
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Speaker 1: did not act scared of him. But then again, Don
5:26
Speaker 1: didn't usually leave for weeks at a time either, so
5:29
Speaker 1: he just told himself that maybe this was just separation anxiety.
5:33
Speaker 1: So he gave Buddy a pat on the head, filled
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Speaker 1: his bowl with kibble, and then grabbed his keys for
5:38
Speaker 1: the short drive to his ex-wife Christine's house. Don drove
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Speaker 1: to Christine's very slowly, trying to enjoy every last bit
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Speaker 1: of his time with Sienna. Don treasured the time he
5:50
Speaker 1: had with his daughter, because the mistakes he'd made when
5:53
Speaker 1: he was younger... had almost gotten her taken away from him.
5:56
Speaker 1: These days, Don lived a squeaky clean life and went
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Speaker 1: to church every Sunday, but it was not always that way.
6:03
Speaker 1: He had partied a lot when he was younger, and
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Speaker 1: when Sienna was a toddler, he'd gotten fired from his
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Speaker 1: dream job as a firefighter for failing a drug test.
6:11
Speaker 1: And then after he'd lost his job, his then-wife, Christine,
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Speaker 1: had to shoulder most of the family's bills, and after
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Speaker 1: a few months, the strain on the marriage was just
6:20
Speaker 1: too much. Christine filed for divorce, which was crushing for Don.
6:25
Speaker 1: But even worse was the possibility of losing Sienna. Don
6:29
Speaker 1: actually already had two kids from a previous marriage. And
6:32
Speaker 1: after that divorce, his first wife had gotten sole custody
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Speaker 1: of those kids and moved them all to Oklahoma. So
6:38
Speaker 1: Don had barely seen them for most of their childhoods.
6:41
Speaker 1: He was determined not to make that same mistake with Sienna.
6:45
Speaker 1: So he'd gone to court to fight Christine and her
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Speaker 1: new husband, Terry White, for shared custody. The court battle
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Speaker 1: had gotten a little contentious, but it was worth it,
6:54
Speaker 1: and Don made the most of every moment he got
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Speaker 1: to spend with Sienna. He'd braid her hair before school
6:59
Speaker 1: and make costumes for her school plays, and on the
7:02
Speaker 1: nights when she was at her mom's house, he always
7:04
Speaker 1: called her before bed to say goodnight. Now, Don pulled
7:08
Speaker 1: into Christine and Terry's driveway, and Christine came outside and
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Speaker 1: stood by the front door with her arms crossed. She
7:14
Speaker 1: motioned to her watch, clearly annoyed that Don was late.
7:17
Speaker 1: Don got out of the car and sort of apologized
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Speaker 1: and told her it had been a really long drive
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Speaker 1: from California, and they'd only stopped a few times for
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Speaker 1: gas and bathroom breaks, and they'd hit some traffic. You know,
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Speaker 1: that was why they were late. Christine sighed and said
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Speaker 1: it was okay. She asked about the trip, and Don
7:34
Speaker 1: told her it went well. They had a great Christmas,
7:36
Speaker 1: despite the sadness over his sister's death, and it had
7:40
Speaker 1: been very meaningful just to be together. Before Sienna ran
7:43
Speaker 1: inside the house, Don pulled her in for a big
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Speaker 1: hug and kiss, and then he promised to call her
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Speaker 1: before bed as usual. And when he saw her again
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Speaker 1: that weekend, they'd have plenty of time to test drive
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Speaker 1: that new bike. When Don pulled back into his garage
7:58
Speaker 1: 10 minutes later, he noticed that the trash can at
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Speaker 1: the end of his driveway was lying overturned on its side.
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Speaker 1: So he parked his truck, walked down to the curb,
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Speaker 1: and flipped it upright. Then he walked back up the driveway,
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Speaker 1: pressed a button to close the garage door, and unlocked
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Speaker 1: the door to his townhouse. And while he was taking
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Speaker 1: off his shoes and jacket... he could have sworn he
8:18
Speaker 1: heard the garage door stop closing and roll back up again,
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Speaker 1: as if something had maybe tripped the sensor. He stopped
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Speaker 1: to listen, and now what he heard was the sound
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Speaker 1: of the door actually closing again and actually hitting the
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Speaker 1: ground with a soft thud. He shook his head and
8:34
Speaker 1: decided he must be imagining things. Don dragged his suitcase
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Speaker 1: into the bedroom and began to unpack. All he wanted
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Speaker 1: to do was just relax and not really think about anything.
8:43
Speaker 1: But when he carried his toiletries into his bathroom to
8:46
Speaker 1: put them away... he saw a small hole in the
8:48
Speaker 1: ceiling and let out a frustrated sigh. Don had been
8:52
Speaker 1: hounding his landlord about patching that hole for months, and
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Speaker 1: he'd been hoping it would have been done by the
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Speaker 1: time he got home. So he made a mental note
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Speaker 1: to give the landlord yet another call about it in
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Speaker 1: the morning. When he was finally finished unpacking, Don put
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Speaker 1: his jacket and his shoes back on and then headed
9:08
Speaker 1: out to the garage to smoke a cigarette. The following morning,
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Speaker 1: December 29th, at the office where Dawn worked. His co-worker,
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Speaker 1: Valerie Torres, was settling down at her desk when her
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Speaker 1: phone rang. Valerie picked it up and heard Dawn's daughter, Sienna,
9:26
Speaker 1: on the other line. Sienna told Valerie that her dad
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Speaker 1: did not call her last night and asked if he
9:32
Speaker 1: was there now at the office. So Valerie stood up
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Speaker 1: and peered over at Dawn's desk, but it was empty.
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Speaker 1: This was a little unusual since Dawn was a pretty
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Speaker 1: punctual guy, but it was still early, so she told
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Speaker 1: Sienna not to worry. She would give Don a call now,
9:48
Speaker 1: and she was sure he would call Sienna right back.
9:51
Speaker 1: Valerie hung up and dialed Don's cell phone, but he
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Speaker 1: didn't answer. So she sent him a text message, and
9:56
Speaker 1: she waited. But after half an hour, Don still hadn't replied.
10:00
Speaker 1: And now Valerie was starting to feel concerned. It was
10:04
Speaker 1: not like Don to skip work without calling in, and
10:06
Speaker 1: then ignore calls and texts, too. And so Valerie discussed
10:09
Speaker 1: it with another co-worker, and they decided to just go
10:12
Speaker 1: swing by Don's townhouse themselves and check on him. The
10:17
Speaker 1: sky over Dawn's townhouse was dark and cloudy when Valerie
10:21
Speaker 1: pulled into the driveway. She and her co-worker got out
10:24
Speaker 1: of the car and walked up to the front door.
10:26
Speaker 1: Valerie knocked on the door, but to her surprise, it
10:30
Speaker 1: actually just swung right open. She looked over at her co-worker,
10:34
Speaker 1: and the two of them nervously stepped inside. Valerie immediately
10:38
Speaker 1: called out Dawn's name, but he didn't answer, so she
10:41
Speaker 1: wandered into the living room and peeked into the bedroom,
10:44
Speaker 1: but the house seemed empty. Valerie's coworker, meanwhile, headed up
10:48
Speaker 1: the stairs to look for Dawn on the second floor.
10:51
Speaker 1: And Valerie headed out to the garage to see if
10:53
Speaker 1: maybe Dawn's truck was there. And when Valerie opened the
10:56
Speaker 1: door to the two-car garage attached to the townhouse and
10:59
Speaker 1: flipped on the light, she saw Dawn's truck was in
11:01
Speaker 1: its usual spot. But something else caught her eye. On
11:05
Speaker 1: the back wall of the garage, behind the neighbor's SUV,
11:09
Speaker 1: she noticed a streak of something dark red on the wall.
11:12
Speaker 1: At this point, Valerie started to feel pretty nervous. But nonetheless,
11:16
Speaker 1: she began walking towards that back wall to see what
11:18
Speaker 1: was going on over there. And as she got closer
11:21
Speaker 1: and closer, she was staring at the streak, wondering if
11:24
Speaker 1: her eyes were playing tricks on her. Until finally, she
11:26
Speaker 1: was close enough that she could actually look down at
11:29
Speaker 1: the space between the SUV and the red streaked wall.
11:33
Speaker 1: And when she looked down, she screamed. A little before
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Speaker 1: noon on that same day, Albuquerque police detective Matthew Kaplan
11:50
Speaker 1: pulled up in front of a two-story stucco townhouse secured
11:53
Speaker 1: with yellow crime scene tape and swarming with police officers.
11:56
Speaker 1: Two women wearing business clothes were sitting on the curb,
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Speaker 1: and both of their faces were stained with tears and
12:02
Speaker 1: smeared makeup. All Detective Kaplan knew was that a man
12:05
Speaker 1: had been found dead in a garage attached to this townhouse.
12:09
Speaker 1: and now he, Detective Kaplan, was heading up the investigation.
12:13
Speaker 1: So he got out of his car and walked up
12:15
Speaker 1: to the open front door, and a policeman standing in
12:18
Speaker 1: the entryway filled him in on a few more details.
12:21
Speaker 1: The victim had been identified as Dawn Fluitt. The two
12:24
Speaker 1: women outside were his co-workers, who had come here to
12:27
Speaker 1: check on him when he hadn't shown up for work
12:29
Speaker 1: that morning. There were no signs of forced entry, and
12:32
Speaker 1: the women said the front door was open when they arrived.
12:35
Speaker 1: Kaplan stepped inside the townhouse into the living room, And
12:38
Speaker 1: right away, he saw a brand new bicycle sitting under
12:40
Speaker 1: a Christmas tree. Then he did a slow loop through
12:43
Speaker 1: the first and second floors and noted there was a
12:46
Speaker 1: cell phone on the couch and a wallet on the
12:48
Speaker 1: kitchen counter. It didn't really look like anything had been
12:51
Speaker 1: rifled through. The drawers in the house were not hanging
12:53
Speaker 1: open and the house generally was neat and orderly. And
12:57
Speaker 1: so on first glance, this did not appear to Kaplan
13:00
Speaker 1: like a robbery. Back on the first floor, Kaplan headed
13:03
Speaker 1: into the garage, where crime scene techs were busy photographing
13:06
Speaker 1: the scene and collecting forensic samples. Kaplan knelt down next
13:10
Speaker 1: to Don's body, which was laying face up between an
13:13
Speaker 1: SUV and the back wall. Don's throat was cut with
13:17
Speaker 1: a gaping wound that ran from one side of his
13:19
Speaker 1: neck to the other, and there were smaller cuts and
13:21
Speaker 1: scrapes near his eye, his ear, and on his hand,
13:25
Speaker 1: as if he had tried to fight back. There were
13:26
Speaker 1: also signs of blunt force trauma. as if he had
13:29
Speaker 1: been hit by an object like a baseball bat or
13:32
Speaker 1: maybe just a fist. And when Kaplan looked closely, he
13:35
Speaker 1: saw burst capillaries on Don's eyes and eyelids, which he
13:39
Speaker 1: knew were commonly a sign of strangulation. This killing was
13:43
Speaker 1: unusually violent and gruesome, which Kaplan knew meant this was
13:47
Speaker 1: likely personal. Kaplan stood up to examine the blood that
13:51
Speaker 1: was spattered on the walls and refrigerator above Don's body
13:54
Speaker 1: and the bloody handprints on the side of Don's truck.
13:57
Speaker 1: There was no blood on the floor around Dawn. However,
14:01
Speaker 1: it sort of appeared like somebody had recently mopped and
14:03
Speaker 1: maybe tried to clean up the blood afterwards. That's when
14:06
Speaker 1: Kaplan noticed an empty bottle of bleach on top of
14:09
Speaker 1: the washer nearby. So he walked over, he opened up
14:12
Speaker 1: the washer, and sure enough, he found piles of wet
14:15
Speaker 1: towels inside that actually still smelled like bleach. Just then,
14:19
Speaker 1: a crime scene tech came over carrying luminol spray, which
14:22
Speaker 1: is a chemical used by law enforcement to detect blood.
14:25
Speaker 1: And so Kaplan stepped back so he could spray the area.
14:28
Speaker 1: And then Kaplan followed him around as he made his
14:31
Speaker 1: way through the house. The luminol spray did pick up
14:34
Speaker 1: traces of blood on the kitchen floor and the sink too.
14:37
Speaker 1: And Kaplan figured the suspect had tried to clean up
14:39
Speaker 1: the crime scene in the garage and then wash their
14:42
Speaker 1: hands or the murder weapon in the kitchen before leaving.
14:45
Speaker 1: But it is much harder to scrub a murder scene
14:48
Speaker 1: than people realize. And so as Kaplan left the house,
14:52
Speaker 1: he was feeling fairly hopeful that the crime scene texts
14:54
Speaker 1: would eventually recover some of the killer's DNA. Kaplan stepped
14:59
Speaker 1: through the front door just as a car pulled up
15:01
Speaker 1: and parked at the end of the driveway. A man
15:03
Speaker 1: got out of the car and pushed past the crime
15:05
Speaker 1: scene tape, and immediately Kaplan put his hands up to
15:08
Speaker 1: stop him. This man looked totally flustered, and he introduced
15:12
Speaker 1: himself as Benny Ruiz, the landlord, and asked what the
15:15
Speaker 1: police were doing on his property. When Kaplan told Benny
15:18
Speaker 1: that his tenant, Don Fluitt, had been murdered, Benny gasped,
15:23
Speaker 1: then started talking a mile a minute. He said Don
15:26
Speaker 1: was a devoted father and a religious man who would
15:29
Speaker 1: open up his home to anyone and that nobody would
15:31
Speaker 1: want to kill him. But then Benny paused and made
15:34
Speaker 1: a face like something was just occurring to him. And
15:37
Speaker 1: he said that, actually, there was one lead he could
15:40
Speaker 1: think of. He told Kaplan that Don did charity work
15:44
Speaker 1: with the homeless, and he said it was possible that
15:46
Speaker 1: somebody from the street could have maybe broken into Don's
15:49
Speaker 1: house and killed him. After Kaplan finished talking to Benny,
15:53
Speaker 1: he sent him on his way, and then he just
15:55
Speaker 1: stood on Don's driveway, thinking about what Benny had said.
15:58
Speaker 1: Based on the extreme violence of the murder and the
16:01
Speaker 1: fact that nothing appeared to be stolen, he doubted very
16:04
Speaker 1: much that this had just been a break-in by a
16:06
Speaker 1: random homeless person. He thought it was much more likely
16:09
Speaker 1: that Don's killer was someone Don knew. and maybe even
16:12
Speaker 1: someone who had a key, based on the fact that
16:15
Speaker 1: there was no evidence of forced entry. And since Don
16:18
Speaker 1: was a big and muscular guy, and it was clear
16:21
Speaker 1: he had fought back with his attacker, Kaplan figured he
16:25
Speaker 1: was probably looking for a strong, potentially big male suspect.
16:30
Speaker 1: The question was, who would want to kill Don Fluitt?
16:33
Speaker 1: From what the landlord and the two co-workers who had
16:36
Speaker 1: called 911 had said, Don seemed to be a really
16:39
Speaker 1: stand-up guy. If he had any dark secrets, they were
16:42
Speaker 1: very well hidden. The next day, December 30th, Detective Kaplan
16:49
Speaker 1: went to the house of Dawn's ex-wife, Christine White, and
16:52
Speaker 1: her husband, Terry White. Kaplan had spoken to Christine the
16:56
Speaker 1: day before, just to break the news about her ex-husband's death,
16:59
Speaker 1: and also to see what she might know about the murder.
17:02
Speaker 1: Christine hadn't had any ideas about who would have wanted
17:04
Speaker 1: to hurt Dawn, but she'd mentioned that he used to
17:07
Speaker 1: have a problem with road rage... and he had just
17:09
Speaker 1: finished a 12-hour drive, so, you know, maybe he had
17:12
Speaker 1: gotten into it with another driver, and maybe they had
17:15
Speaker 1: followed him home. But she also said their daughter had
17:18
Speaker 1: been with him, and she didn't mention anything about that.
17:21
Speaker 1: The only other thing Christine could think of was that
17:23
Speaker 1: Don had actually told her that his dog was acting
17:26
Speaker 1: skittish when he had gotten back from that road trip.
17:29
Speaker 1: Kaplan had quickly ruled out Christine as a suspect because
17:32
Speaker 1: she had an airtight alibi. Don had dropped Sienna off
17:35
Speaker 1: at Christine's around 7.45 the night he was killed, and
17:39
Speaker 1: then she and Sienna had spent the rest of the
17:41
Speaker 1: night together. Her road rage idea seemed as unlikely as
17:45
Speaker 1: the landlord's theory that a random homeless person had broken in.
17:49
Speaker 1: And the information about the dog was interesting, but not
17:52
Speaker 1: particularly helpful in identifying a suspect. But now Kaplan was
17:56
Speaker 1: back at Christine's house because he still needed to speak
17:59
Speaker 1: to her husband, Terry, who had been out of town
18:01
Speaker 1: last night for work since he was a truck driver
18:03
Speaker 1: and often worked long shifts at odd hours. But as
18:06
Speaker 1: the husband of Dawn's ex-wife, He was a natural suspect.
18:11
Speaker 1: When Kaplan rang the doorbell, Terry opened the door and
18:14
Speaker 1: greeted the detective with a polite smile. Kaplan entered the
18:17
Speaker 1: living room where Christine and Sienna were sitting and said hello,
18:21
Speaker 1: and then asked them to leave so he could speak
18:23
Speaker 1: to Terry in private. Terry sat down in an armchair
18:25
Speaker 1: across from Kaplan. He seemed calm and friendly as he
18:29
Speaker 1: told the detective that he and Don didn't have much
18:31
Speaker 1: contact with each other, but their relationship was not exactly bad.
18:35
Speaker 1: It was just awkward. because of the custody battle Don
18:38
Speaker 1: had had with Christine. Ever since then, Terry said, he'd
18:42
Speaker 1: tried to keep the peace by just sort of avoiding Don.
18:45
Speaker 1: He knew Sienna loved her dad like crazy, and if
18:47
Speaker 1: he accidentally sparked a conflict, Sienna would likely take Don's side.
18:52
Speaker 1: As for the night of Don's murder, Terry told Kaplan
18:55
Speaker 1: he was at his sister's house until about 9 p.m.,
18:58
Speaker 1: and then he left and he stopped at Wendy's on
19:00
Speaker 1: the way to work, and then he took a nap
19:02
Speaker 1: in his truck in the parking lot before going in
19:04
Speaker 1: for a shift. After Kaplan left and went back to
19:07
Speaker 1: the station, he immediately called Terry's sister and also Terry's boss,
19:11
Speaker 1: and they both confirmed Terry's whereabouts, which meant that Terry's
19:15
Speaker 1: alibi was solid, and Kaplan was back to square one
19:17
Speaker 1: on suspects. But while he was writing up a report
19:21
Speaker 1: on Terry's interview, his phone rang with a call from
19:23
Speaker 1: one of Dawn's neighbors. She told him she had been
19:26
Speaker 1: looking over the footage from her security camera for the
19:28
Speaker 1: night of Dawn's murder, and she found something that she
19:31
Speaker 1: thought the detective might want to see. Kaplan stopped writing
19:34
Speaker 1: his report mid-sentence and drove right to this neighbor's house,
19:38
Speaker 1: where she let him inside, to her computer, where she
19:41
Speaker 1: pressed play. Kaplan leaned in close to the screen and
19:45
Speaker 1: watched the black and white footage of the side of
19:47
Speaker 1: Dawn's townhouse shot from the top of the driveway. next door.
19:51
Speaker 1: At 7.41 p.m., a few minutes after Kaplan knew that
19:55
Speaker 1: Dawn and Sienna had left for Christine's house, a hooded
19:58
Speaker 1: figure could be seen in the corner of the frame.
20:01
Speaker 1: The figure tipped over Dawn's trash can and then walked
20:05
Speaker 1: up the driveway toward Dawn's garage and disappeared from the screen.
20:09
Speaker 1: About 15 minutes later, the video showed Don driving into
20:12
Speaker 1: the garage and then walking out again to go pick
20:15
Speaker 1: up the trash can and then walking back up the driveway.
20:18
Speaker 1: Now the garage door itself was not in frame, but
20:21
Speaker 1: the camera did capture a faint glow of light coming
20:23
Speaker 1: from inside Don's garage. Kaplan could see that light dimming,
20:27
Speaker 1: which meant the garage door was closing, but then inexplicably
20:31
Speaker 1: the door must have begun going back up again because
20:33
Speaker 1: the light began to get bigger. And at the same time,
20:36
Speaker 1: there were several brief flashes of light, And then after
20:39
Speaker 1: the flashes, the light began to dim again, which meant
20:42
Speaker 1: the garage door closed, eventually leaving the driveway in darkness.
20:50
Speaker 1: Kaplan got a copy of this video, then left the
20:53
Speaker 1: neighbor's house and walked over to Don's, trying to piece
20:56
Speaker 1: together what actually happened on the video. He stood inside
20:58
Speaker 1: of Don's garage and held the garage door clicker in
21:01
Speaker 1: his hand, and he pressed the button to close the door.
21:04
Speaker 1: And as it closed, Kaplan walked closer until he was
21:08
Speaker 1: almost directly underneath the door's path. And then when that happened,
21:12
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, the door stopped because Kaplan had
21:15
Speaker 1: actually tripped the sensor by going right underneath it. And
21:18
Speaker 1: as soon as he tripped the sensor, a light on
21:20
Speaker 1: the top of the garage flashed three times as the
21:24
Speaker 1: door not only stopped, but began going back the other way.
21:27
Speaker 1: It was clearly how the system worked if it was tripped.
21:31
Speaker 1: And so once he saw that, Kaplan thought about those
21:33
Speaker 1: strange flashes of light he saw in the video. And
21:36
Speaker 1: then also that hooded figure he had seen lurking near
21:38
Speaker 1: the garage. And all at once, it was like the
21:41
Speaker 1: pieces clicked into place. The suspect must have followed Don
21:44
Speaker 1: into the garage. But when they went into the garage,
21:48
Speaker 1: perhaps they tripped the sensor. And so as that door
21:52
Speaker 1: was coming down, the suspect's trying to sneak in. They
21:54
Speaker 1: tripped the sensor. The door stops. There's those flashes of light.
21:58
Speaker 1: The door begins to go up again. But the suspect,
22:01
Speaker 1: not wanting Dawn to realize what's going on, rushed over,
22:04
Speaker 1: hits the button, the door shuts, Dawn is none the wiser. Unfortunately,
22:09
Speaker 1: as valuable as this footage appeared to be, Kaplan was
22:12
Speaker 1: not able to make out the dark figure's face on
22:15
Speaker 1: this security video. But, you know, the video had given
22:18
Speaker 1: him a few extremely valuable clues. Whoever killed Dawn must
22:22
Speaker 1: have known his routine. They also must have known when
22:25
Speaker 1: he would leave to take Sienna to her mother's house,
22:28
Speaker 1: and when he would likely come back home. And they
22:30
Speaker 1: also must have known that Don was the type of
22:33
Speaker 1: person who, when he pulled into his driveway and saw
22:36
Speaker 1: that overturned trash can, that he wouldn't just let it
22:39
Speaker 1: sit there. He would deal with it that night. He
22:41
Speaker 1: would go down there and he would turn it upright.
22:43
Speaker 1: And when Don was doing that, that would give the
22:46
Speaker 1: killer an opportunity to sneak into the garage. And all
22:50
Speaker 1: of this meant that the suspect didn't just know Don.
22:53
Speaker 1: They had to have known him very well. Detective Kaplan
22:58
Speaker 1: spent weeks speaking to everyone who knew Don, from co-workers
23:01
Speaker 1: to friends to his entire family, including his first wife
23:05
Speaker 1: and the two kids he shared with her, Tiffany and Josh,
23:08
Speaker 1: who had gone to live in Oklahoma with their mom
23:11
Speaker 1: after the divorce. When Kaplan reached the kids, who were
23:14
Speaker 1: now young adults, they said they had mostly stayed on
23:17
Speaker 1: good terms with their dad. However, they said that wasn't
23:19
Speaker 1: true of some of the other members of their family.
23:23
Speaker 1: They told Kaplan the person he should be investigating was
23:26
Speaker 1: was Don's own brother, Dennis. They said that Don and
23:29
Speaker 1: Dennis had had a falling out about a year earlier,
23:31
Speaker 1: but somehow, after Don's death, Dennis had gotten the keys
23:36
Speaker 1: to Don's townhouse, and he'd been out there boxing things
23:39
Speaker 1: up and basically taking control over everything ever since. Now,
23:43
Speaker 1: Dennis was apparently telling the family that he was just
23:46
Speaker 1: trying to help, but Tiffany and Josh, they weren't sure
23:49
Speaker 1: they believed that. Towards the end of January 2017, so
24:00
Speaker 1: nearly a month after Don was murdered, Kaplan brought Don's brother, Dennis,
24:05
Speaker 1: into the Albuquerque police station for questioning. And seated across
24:09
Speaker 1: the interrogation table, Dennis seemed a little keyed up. But
24:12
Speaker 1: Kaplan couldn't tell whether he was nervous about the interview
24:15
Speaker 1: because he was guilty or irritated about it because he
24:19
Speaker 1: was innocent. Dennis said that the feud between him and
24:22
Speaker 1: his brother had started after their father had passed away
24:25
Speaker 1: in October of 2015. little over a year earlier. The
24:29
Speaker 1: family had reached an agreement over what to do with
24:31
Speaker 1: their dad's possessions, but Don had violated that agreement by
24:35
Speaker 1: actually keeping one of their father's cars instead of selling it.
24:39
Speaker 1: The argument had spiraled from there, and pretty soon Dennis
24:42
Speaker 1: said that he and Don were no longer on speaking terms.
24:46
Speaker 1: Dennis said he had reached out that fall and tried
24:48
Speaker 1: to reconnect, but he said Don never returned his calls.
24:51
Speaker 1: Dennis said he had hoped that they could at some
24:54
Speaker 1: point patch things up, you but then Dennis said he'd
24:58
Speaker 1: gotten the call that Don was dead. Kaplan narrowed his
25:01
Speaker 1: eyes as Dennis finished the explanation. He didn't really buy
25:05
Speaker 1: the reconciliation story, and Dennis's only alibi was that he
25:09
Speaker 1: was home alone when his brother was killed. So Kaplan
25:12
Speaker 1: decided to push. He asked Dennis why he'd started rooting
25:16
Speaker 1: through Don's house the minute the crime scene was cleared.
25:19
Speaker 1: And at this, Dennis began to get pretty defensive. He
25:22
Speaker 1: insisted he only wanted to spare the rest of his
25:25
Speaker 1: family the pain of having to do that themselves. Besides,
25:29
Speaker 1: he said, his hard work settling Don's affairs had actually
25:32
Speaker 1: led him to a lead about the murder that he
25:35
Speaker 1: wanted Kaplan to look into. And that was that just
25:39
Speaker 1: a few days after the murder, he'd walked into Don's
25:42
Speaker 1: house and found the landlord, Benny Ruiz, standing inside with
25:46
Speaker 1: no good explanation for what he was doing there. Dennis
25:49
Speaker 1: said he had heard from Don's neighbors and that Don
25:52
Speaker 1: and this landlord had been going back and forth over
25:54
Speaker 1: some hole that the landlord was supposed to repair but
25:57
Speaker 1: hadn't yet. And Dennis just thought it was extremely odd
26:01
Speaker 1: that Benny would just walk into a crime scene, even
26:04
Speaker 1: if he did technically own the place. Kaplan sat back
26:07
Speaker 1: in his chair, remembering Benny Ruiz coming to the house
26:10
Speaker 1: on the day Don's body was found. Benny had been
26:13
Speaker 1: very quick to suggest, without any evidence, that maybe a
26:16
Speaker 1: homeless person could have broken in and murdered Don. Maybe,
26:20
Speaker 1: Kaplan thought now, Benny had just been trying to deflect
26:23
Speaker 1: suspicion away from himself. The next day, Kaplan brought Benny
26:28
Speaker 1: Ruiz into the station for an interview. Like Don's brother Dennis,
26:32
Speaker 1: Benny did not have a solid alibi for the night
26:34
Speaker 1: Don was killed. But he could explain why Dennis had
26:37
Speaker 1: found him inside of Don's house on that day. He
26:40
Speaker 1: said he was only there to feed the dog, because
26:43
Speaker 1: nobody was looking after it during the first few days
26:45
Speaker 1: following Don's death. Benny then leaned across the table and
26:49
Speaker 1: told Kaplan that if there were one person he should
26:51
Speaker 1: be looking into, it was Dennis. Benny said that from
26:54
Speaker 1: the moment Dennis arrived, he'd been acting really weird. Benny
26:58
Speaker 1: said he owned another townhouse a few blocks away from Don's,
27:02
Speaker 1: and Dennis had apparently asked if he could rent it
27:04
Speaker 1: so he could move some of Don's stuff into it
27:07
Speaker 1: and set it up as a new home for Sienna.
27:09
Speaker 1: Benny had found this strange, and when he ran a
27:12
Speaker 1: background check on Dennis... he discovered he had a criminal
27:15
Speaker 1: record for assault and disorderly conduct, so he had told
27:19
Speaker 1: him no. Now, Kaplan already knew about the criminal record
27:22
Speaker 1: because he had run Dennis' name before bringing him in
27:25
Speaker 1: for questioning. But now, listening to this account from the landlord,
27:29
Speaker 1: he wondered why, after a year of estrangement, Dennis was
27:33
Speaker 1: suddenly so interested in his brother's life. But as the
27:36
Speaker 1: weeks passed, Kaplan just couldn't make a case against Dennis.
27:41
Speaker 1: In fact, he couldn't make a case against anybody, Neither
27:44
Speaker 1: Dennis nor Benny had alibis that could prove they weren't
27:47
Speaker 1: the killer, but there was also nothing that proved either
27:51
Speaker 1: of them were. The portrait of Dawn as a loving
27:54
Speaker 1: father and a man of faith who had reformed himself
27:57
Speaker 1: after some mistakes in his youth appeared to be completely accurate.
28:01
Speaker 1: Dawn's most recent ex-wife, Christine, had fought with Dawn, you know,
28:04
Speaker 1: over custody, but that battle seemed to have cooled off
28:08
Speaker 1: and both she and her new husband, Terry, had alibis.
28:11
Speaker 1: Don also didn't appear to have any girlfriends he could
28:13
Speaker 1: have been fighting with. And so there just didn't seem
28:16
Speaker 1: to be anybody who truly wanted Don dead. In February,
28:21
Speaker 1: so about six weeks after the murder, the local newspaper
28:24
Speaker 1: ran a front-page article saying the police had no suspects
28:27
Speaker 1: and no evidence. And when Kaplan read it, he had
28:30
Speaker 1: to admit that it was more or less the truth.
28:34
Speaker 1: The breakthrough that Kaplan desperately needed wouldn't come until March
28:38
Speaker 1: of 2017. so 12 weeks into the investigation. On that day,
28:42
Speaker 1: he got a call from the forensics lab, and they
28:45
Speaker 1: told him a key piece of evidence had just come in.
28:48
Speaker 1: And the person who had made this critical piece of
28:50
Speaker 1: evidence possible was Don Fluitt himself. Based on forensic evidence, interviews,
29:00
Speaker 1: and the police investigation, here's what police believe happened to
29:03
Speaker 1: Don Fluitt on the night of December 28, 2016. The
29:14
Speaker 1: killer waited in the darkness right outside of Dawn's house
29:17
Speaker 1: until the garage door opened at about 7.40 p.m. At
29:21
Speaker 1: that point, Dawn drove off with his daughter in the truck,
29:24
Speaker 1: and so the killer immediately darted forward and tipped over
29:27
Speaker 1: a garbage can and then retreated back to the shadows
29:30
Speaker 1: to wait. The killer had been nursing a grudge against
29:33
Speaker 1: Don for a long time. It annoyed them that everyone
29:37
Speaker 1: thought Don was so great because the killer knew that
29:40
Speaker 1: until just a few years earlier, Don had been this
29:44
Speaker 1: drug-abusing loser with two kids he didn't even care for
29:47
Speaker 1: and another one who he deserved to lose in Siena.
29:50
Speaker 1: But for some reason, nobody else saw Don for what
29:53
Speaker 1: he truly was. So the killer had bided their time
29:56
Speaker 1: for as long as they could stand it. But finally,
30:00
Speaker 1: they'd had enough. Don was just a dark cloud hovering
30:04
Speaker 1: over their life constantly, and he had to go. The
30:07
Speaker 1: killer knew Don well enough to figure out his schedule.
30:10
Speaker 1: They knew he was due to drop his daughter off
30:12
Speaker 1: at her mother's that evening, and that he'd be coming
30:15
Speaker 1: home alone after that, and that before he went to bed,
30:18
Speaker 1: he would go into the garage to smoke a cigarette.
30:21
Speaker 1: The killer clutched a tire thumper in their hand, which
30:24
Speaker 1: the small wooden bat used to check tire pressure, and
30:27
Speaker 1: as they clutched it, They felt their heart race with anticipation. Finally,
30:32
Speaker 1: just before 8 p.m., Don came back. And while he
30:35
Speaker 1: was out fixing the trash can, the killer snuck into
30:38
Speaker 1: the garage. They hid behind a vehicle as Don walked
30:42
Speaker 1: back up the driveway and pressed a button to close
30:44
Speaker 1: the garage door and then open the door to his
30:47
Speaker 1: own townhouse. At that point, the killer snuck out from
30:50
Speaker 1: behind the vehicle to get into position and And as
30:53
Speaker 1: they did this, they accidentally tripped the garage door sensor,
30:57
Speaker 1: sending the door rolling back up and sending those lights flashing.
31:01
Speaker 1: And so thinking fast, the killer rushed over to the
31:03
Speaker 1: panel on the wall and pressed the button again to
31:05
Speaker 1: close the garage door. Then they held their breath, listening
31:09
Speaker 1: for any movement inside the townhouse that would suggest Don
31:12
Speaker 1: was like, what's going on and coming out to check.
31:15
Speaker 1: But Don didn't seem to notice. And so the killer
31:17
Speaker 1: breathed out a sigh of relief and took their position
31:20
Speaker 1: near the door. And then after a while, The doorknob jiggled,
31:24
Speaker 1: and the killer realized this was it. They raised their weapon,
31:28
Speaker 1: and as soon as Don opened the door, they struck
31:30
Speaker 1: him so hard the tire thumper broke into pieces. Then
31:34
Speaker 1: they punched Don again and again with their bare fists,
31:37
Speaker 1: finally letting out all the rage they'd been pushing down
31:40
Speaker 1: for so long. Don did everything he could to fight back.
31:44
Speaker 1: I mean, he had turned his life around. He had
31:47
Speaker 1: a daughter that he loved, that he was trying to
31:49
Speaker 1: build an amazing life with. He was not just going
31:51
Speaker 1: to give up here. And so as valiantly as he could,
31:55
Speaker 1: he fought the killer. But he had been gravely injured.
31:59
Speaker 1: And when he couldn't fight anymore, he just tried to
32:01
Speaker 1: crawl under his truck and hide. But the killer pulled
32:05
Speaker 1: him out and landed one last punch to his face.
32:09
Speaker 1: Don stopped moving. And at that point, the killer wrapped
32:12
Speaker 1: their hands around his throat and they squeezed. The killer
32:15
Speaker 1: wasn't done. To make sure Don was dead, they also
32:19
Speaker 1: went into Don's apartment, grabbed a knife from the kitchen,
32:23
Speaker 1: came back into the garage, knelt down, and ruthlessly slit
32:27
Speaker 1: Don's throat. Blood ran out of the wound and poured
32:31
Speaker 1: onto the concrete. The killer found some bleach inside and
32:34
Speaker 1: tried to clean up the mess as best as they could,
32:37
Speaker 1: but they left behind one crucial piece of evidence. Don
32:41
Speaker 1: was not able to save his own life. But by
32:45
Speaker 1: aggressively fighting back, he'd given investigators a clue that would
32:49
Speaker 1: solve his murder and also ensure that in his absence,
32:53
Speaker 1: his daughter Sienna would grow up in a safe and
32:55
Speaker 1: secure home. Because the key piece of forensic evidence that
33:00
Speaker 1: was left behind that solved the case was DNA found
33:04
Speaker 1: under Don's fingernails that belonged to none other than Sienna's
33:08
Speaker 1: own stepfather, Terry White. It would turn out that Terry's
33:13
Speaker 1: story to the cops about being at his sister's until
33:16
Speaker 1: 9 p.m. was a lie. And so on April 3rd, 2017,
33:21
Speaker 1: just over three months after Dawn's murder, Terry White was
33:24
Speaker 1: arrested and charged with murder. After his arrest, Terry cast
33:28
Speaker 1: blame on his wife, Christine, saying she was the one
33:31
Speaker 1: who put him up to it so they could have
33:33
Speaker 1: Sienna to themselves. And so Christine was also arrested and
33:36
Speaker 1: charged with murder, but the charges against her were dropped
33:40
Speaker 1: due to a lack of evidence. Terry, however, was convicted
33:44
Speaker 1: in August of 2018 of first-degree murder, aggravated burglary, and
33:48
Speaker 1: tampering with evidence. He was sentenced to life in prison
33:52
Speaker 1: plus 12 years. Thank you so much for watching. Let
34:04
Speaker 1: me know what you thought of today's episode in the comments.
34:07
Speaker 1: And remember, we have a whole playlist of true crime
34:09
Speaker 1: episodes ready for you to binge right now. So click
34:12
Speaker 1: here and give them a watch. All right, until next time,
34:15
Speaker 1: see ya.