Latest / The Evolution of Evil - True Crime Stories / The Sneak Attack on Katlyn Lyon - True Crime Documentary

Transcript

The Sneak Attack on Katlyn Lyon - True Crime Documentary · The Evolution of Evil - True Crime Stories

• 0:14
  Speaker 1: I wanted to say that. I know everybody doesn't agree
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: on sharing this. I feel like I'm lost and just
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: hoping that one day Kaylen's story will help someone. I
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: definitely needed somebody to be held accountable. I needed to
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: tell Kaitlyn's story, you know, I needed people to know
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: about her. She was beautiful, she was smart, and she
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: loved to shop in fence and she had so many friends.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: I always described her as glitter. She expressed her individuality
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: through her hair. She always had different colors and it
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: was always so cute on her. I loved the purple honr.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: She used to travel for those music festivals. I mean,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: she's been all around the world. Yeah, the shuffling queen.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: That's what we always say.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: She had the best sense of humor. She loved Milaney,
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: she loved her daughter. She was single. She you know,
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: she was getting a new apartment and she was starting over.
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: I mean, did you worry at all about her safety there?
• 1:23
  Speaker 5: No?
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: I thought, man, she's near me, you know, and I
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: never thought this would happen. Never crossed my mind.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Okay, tell me exactly what happened.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: My room.
• 1:33
  Speaker 6: Daughter just came looking up in my bedroom.
• 1:35
  Speaker 7: She told me that something was wrong with mommy, and
• 1:38
  Speaker 7: Mommy wouldn't wake up.
• 1:40
  Speaker 6: Yeah she breathing, Yeah no, So we need to get
• 1:45
  Speaker 6: go here.
• 1:48
  Speaker 8: Sheriff's office.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: I was woken up to a phone call.
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: Do you know what time? It was?
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Thirty five am. It was Jacob on the phone saying
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: that Cane is unresponsive. They're doing CPR and the MS
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: is there.
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: My sister called. She's like, Sherry, get to Caitlin's right now.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: Something's wrong. And my only thought was let me get
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: to that baby who's up there with Melanie. I grabbed
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: her and she just like melted it into me.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was.
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: It was pretty bad.
• 2:25
  Speaker 5: The way the code of Virginia is, nobody can get
• 2:27
  Speaker 5: in trouble for overdose.
• 2:29
  Speaker 7: They asked me, did she do drugs? Do I do drugs?
• 2:32
  Speaker 7: Did you give her something? Does she take something? I
• 2:35
  Speaker 7: was like, I don't do drugs.
• 2:37
  Speaker 9: All the signs are looking for look at overdose.
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: The police were adamant that it was a drug overdose,
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: and I'm like, she doesn't do drugs.
• 2:44
  Speaker 8: We're taking off at this point, she's obviously be transported.
• 2:48
  Speaker 7: I genuinely believed she's gonna be okay. She had CPR
• 2:52
  Speaker 7: she was alive, she had a heartbeat, she was gonna.
• 2:55
  Speaker 9: Be okay.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: In the hospital. They even wanted to bring a chaplain in,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: and I was like, no, my child's not gonna die.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: I don't need a chaplain in right now. A tech
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: came to me and walked me outside. She said, it
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: wasn't drugs. Someone hurt your baby. Who would want to
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: hurt her? And she loved everybody, and everybody loved her.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: You know, she didn't have enemies.
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: That you were aware of.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I will never stop seeing my daughter's name, and
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: I will never stop seeking justice for her. I walk
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: into the hospital, saw my daughter there, and I watched
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: a new CPR and I'll never forget that.
• 4:28
  Speaker 8: On October seventh, twenty twenty two, as Crystal Sale arrived
• 4:32
  Speaker 8: at the hospital bedside of her daughter, Caitlin Lion Montgomery,
• 4:37
  Speaker 8: she knew the two people she needed most. And would
• 4:41
  Speaker 8: you say, your sisters have really stepped.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: Up for you. Absolutely. I don't know what I'd done
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: without my sisters.
• 4:50
  Speaker 8: The oldest of the sisters, Sherry Cox, was taking care
• 4:53
  Speaker 8: of Caitlin's then four year old daughter, Mulaney Well, periodically
• 4:59
  Speaker 8: checking in on Caitlin in the hospital. I knew it
• 5:02
  Speaker 8: was bad.
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: What did you think had happened to Kitlin?
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: I didn't know.
• 5:08
  Speaker 10: I called Sherry. The first thing she said is something
• 5:12
  Speaker 10: was wrong with Caitlin. But they didn't know what.
• 5:15
  Speaker 8: Sherry told their youngest sister, Tina Hopkins, nearly five thousand
• 5:19
  Speaker 8: miles away in Hawaii, the twenty eight year old Caitlin
• 5:23
  Speaker 8: was unconscious and in grave condition.
• 5:26
  Speaker 10: You know, Shery told me like, you have to come home.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: It's not good. I was just shocked that this was
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: even happening and just.
• 5:35
  Speaker 8: Confused, especially when doctors told her that Caitlyn sustained injuries
• 5:40
  Speaker 8: to her neck and head.
• 5:42
  Speaker 9: Any medical history.
• 5:44
  Speaker 8: Well, first responders had initially thought Caitlin had suffered a
• 5:47
  Speaker 8: drug overdose. Her physical injuries and the lack of drugs
• 5:54
  Speaker 8: found at the scene indicated Caitlin was actually the victim
• 5:59
  Speaker 8: of a island assault.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: That she had been strangled.
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: Were all with speeches. Were baffled, But who would have
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: done this?
• 6:10
  Speaker 6: I got a phone call to take a strangulation report.
• 6:14
  Speaker 8: Lead investigator Robbie Burnett with the Bedford County, Virginia's Sheriff's
• 6:19
  Speaker 8: Office focused on documenting Caitlin's injuries.
• 6:23
  Speaker 6: I saw two distinctive marks parallel to each other on
• 6:27
  Speaker 6: our nick.
• 6:28
  Speaker 8: Since those marks weren't visible until after Caitlin had arrived
• 6:32
  Speaker 8: at the hospital, Burnett says it helped timestamp the attack.
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: It was very recent, like when you say very recent, within.
• 6:41
  Speaker 6: An hour or so, most likely of when the call
• 6:43
  Speaker 6: came in.
• 6:45
  Speaker 8: So her apartments on the second floor, right on the
• 6:48
  Speaker 8: end of the building. Yes. Shortly after learning about Caitlin's injuries,
• 6:53
  Speaker 8: Investigator Michelle Alderson was sent to secure and process Caitlin's apartment,
• 7:00
  Speaker 8: now a crime scene, one that had been disturbed by
• 7:04
  Speaker 8: first responders EMTs and Kitlin and her roommate Jacob Pearcy's dogs.
• 7:13
  Speaker 8: So my scene was not as exact as I would
• 7:16
  Speaker 8: like my crime scenes to be. Investigator Alderson set out
• 7:20
  Speaker 8: to find what could have caused the injuries on Caitlin's neck.
• 7:25
  Speaker 8: She found a huge clue wrapped up in Caitlin's comforter.
• 7:30
  Speaker 8: It was a multiple charging cord adapter. Did they look
• 7:35
  Speaker 8: like they matched what had been described on her neck?
• 7:39
  Speaker 8: I would call them consistent, yes, with the cords found
• 7:43
  Speaker 8: on the bed. Alderson suspected that Caitlyn was attacked there,
• 7:48
  Speaker 8: but she soon learned that first responders, not suspecting foul
• 7:53
  Speaker 8: play at that time, had given the family permission to
• 7:56
  Speaker 8: wash Caitlin's sheets and clean up. Doesn't that make it
• 8:02
  Speaker 8: difficult to obtain DNA fingerprints?
• 8:06
  Speaker 5: Yes?
• 8:06
  Speaker 8: Yes, Investigators were unable to recover any DNA or fingerprints
• 8:12
  Speaker 8: at the scene, including any on those charging cords. As
• 8:18
  Speaker 8: a search for evidence identifying Caitlin's attacker, doctors struggled to
• 8:23
  Speaker 8: revive her. After twenty nine hours, Caitlin was officially declared
• 8:30
  Speaker 8: brain dead the next morning, October eighth.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: I remember going to her. One of the only things
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: I remember is ton I'm sorry that I couldn't protect her.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: I can say that there are no words that have
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: been invented to describe how this feels. It's excruciating.
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: I just can't comprehend that she's gone forever like I can't,
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: I can't go there.
• 9:03
  Speaker 8: Tina arrived just in time to help say goodbye.
• 9:06
  Speaker 10: My instinct is just to take charge and fix whatever's
• 9:09
  Speaker 10: wrong that affects me greatly that I couldn't fix it
• 9:12
  Speaker 10: for my sister and our family.
• 9:15
  Speaker 8: Tina documented the moment Caitlyn was escorted to fulfill her
• 9:20
  Speaker 8: final wishes to be an organ doner. Tina shared the
• 9:24
  Speaker 8: video on TikTok.
• 9:27
  Speaker 10: My family and I have been through a tragedy.
• 9:32
  Speaker 8: She and the rest of her family started posting photos
• 9:35
  Speaker 8: and videos. I'm going to talk about my niece, memorializing Caitlin.
• 9:41
  Speaker 11: She liked music right, oh love music, specifically electronic dance.
• 9:45
  Speaker 8: Music, music that Caitlyn had discovered with her older brother
• 9:50
  Speaker 8: Jake Lyon.
• 9:51
  Speaker 11: And there was this like dance party type thing. I know,
• 9:55
  Speaker 11: at the end of the night, she ran up and
• 9:56
  Speaker 11: like bear hugged me.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: She's like, I want to do.
• 9:58
  Speaker 9: This all the time.
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: Now, what is it? Tell me? What is it that
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: she took.
• 10:02
  Speaker 11: To I think just the energy and the social element,
• 10:06
  Speaker 11: how she would draw a crowd.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: She loved life. She absolutely loved life.
• 10:14
  Speaker 8: A life that had changed unexpectedly when Caitlyn learned she
• 10:18
  Speaker 8: was pregnant with Mulani.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: I mean we were very supportive and was like, you know,
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: will help any way we can.
• 10:23
  Speaker 8: But the always independent Caitlin didn't need much help, says Crystal.
• 10:29
  Speaker 8: Even with Mlani's father out of the picture and while
• 10:32
  Speaker 8: working full time as a restaurant manager.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: Caitlin was rocking in.
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: She was rocking in what do you mean rocking it?
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: She was providing for her child.
• 10:44
  Speaker 8: Caitlin's family now had to grapple with the reality that
• 10:47
  Speaker 8: someone had intentionally taken her from her beloved child.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: I still can't believe my daughter was murdered.
• 10:56
  Speaker 6: She said, You're going to find whoever did this to
• 10:59
  Speaker 6: my daughter. I said, there will be no stone left unturned.
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: So who's the first person you're looking at?
• 11:04
  Speaker 6: We definitely looked at Jacob Pearcy. Here, the roommate with.
• 11:07
  Speaker 8: No sign of fourth century and being the only other
• 11:11
  Speaker 8: adult in the apartment. Caitlin's new roommate, Jacob Pearcy, who
• 11:16
  Speaker 8: had called nine one one reporting or injured, was an
• 11:20
  Speaker 8: obvious suspect.
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: Investigators told us that it was ninety nine percent sure
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: he did it.
• 11:25
  Speaker 8: But Tina says she suspected this man Caitlin's ex boyfriend,
• 11:30
  Speaker 8: trent and Fry, whom she had broken up with ten
• 11:34
  Speaker 8: days earlier.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: That was my first gut instinct.
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: You first saw Trent, I did.
• 11:40
  Speaker 8: Trenton lived three hours away in North Carolina, so investigators
• 11:45
  Speaker 8: gave him a call.
• 11:46
  Speaker 6: He said that he was in North Carolina working the
• 11:48
  Speaker 6: entire time. He agreed to come up for an interview
• 11:50
  Speaker 6: appear to be cooperative.
• 11:52
  Speaker 8: So focus intensified on Jacob Pearsy, especially when investigators learned
• 11:59
  Speaker 8: what Malaney said she witnessed that night my brother killed
• 12:04
  Speaker 8: my mom. Brother was the nickname she used for Jacob Pearcy.
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: Did you have anything to do with hurting Caitlin?
• 12:14
  Speaker 9: Absolutely not.
• 12:27
  Speaker 10: Outfit of the day Again, these videos are just for
• 12:29
  Speaker 10: my sisters. So I'm not going anywhere today.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Peina ain't not going anywhere today because your husband has
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: not giving you lunch money.
• 12:36
  Speaker 8: For Tina Krystalline Sherry making TikTok videos started as a
• 12:41
  Speaker 8: fun way to connect their family. That change after Caitlin's death.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: My niece was murdered.
• 12:51
  Speaker 10: We don't have hardly any information. We felt wronged and
• 12:56
  Speaker 10: we weren't going to stop fighting.
• 12:59
  Speaker 8: In those AGAs. In early days, Christal was too deep
• 13:03
  Speaker 8: in her grief to speak publicly, so Tina stepped up
• 13:08
  Speaker 8: to post updates on the case.
• 13:10
  Speaker 10: There is an ongoing investigation.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: We're hanging out, we're out here at.
• 13:17
  Speaker 8: That investigation centered on Caitlin's roommate, Jacob Pearcy.
• 13:22
  Speaker 6: We were looking at him pretty pretty heavy at first.
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: What do you mean I mean?
• 13:25
  Speaker 6: He was in our number one suspect at that point.
• 13:27
  Speaker 7: In my mind, I'm just here to tell him what
• 13:30
  Speaker 7: I can tell him, help him figure out what could
• 13:32
  Speaker 7: have happened, what couldn't have happened.
• 13:34
  Speaker 9: I was in full denial, But.
• 13:35
  Speaker 8: After being interviewed several times, having his body photographed for
• 13:40
  Speaker 8: possible defensive wounds, and his cell phone confiscated, Jacob Parsy
• 13:46
  Speaker 8: knew he was in serious trouble. Were you scared you'd
• 13:50
  Speaker 8: be blamed for whatever happened to her?
• 13:52
  Speaker 7: Absolutely? You know I'm the main suspect of something so terrible.
• 13:56
  Speaker 6: We're still at a loss at that point because he's
• 13:57
  Speaker 6: fully cooperating and we hadn't called him on yet.
• 14:03
  Speaker 8: What troubled investigators was four year old Milaney's statement. She
• 14:08
  Speaker 8: said she had seen Jacob killing her mother, but Burnett
• 14:13
  Speaker 8: soon discovered that she had actually witnessed Jacob performing CPR.
• 14:19
  Speaker 6: She actually did the motions of her with her hands,
• 14:22
  Speaker 6: of what Jacob was doing to her, going like this,
• 14:24
  Speaker 6: that's emotion she made.
• 14:25
  Speaker 8: To be sure, Burnett reviewed the nine one one call.
• 14:29
  Speaker 8: You can hear Jacob doing CPR.
• 14:38
  Speaker 6: You could tell he was definitely putt an effort in.
• 14:42
  Speaker 7: I thought I had done enough. But I think that's
• 14:45
  Speaker 7: what tears me up the most. It's just I wasn't
• 14:48
  Speaker 7: able to say.
• 14:50
  Speaker 9: You know.
• 14:57
  Speaker 8: At that point, investigators began to look closer at Caitlin's
• 15:01
  Speaker 8: ex boyfriend, Trent and Fry. They tried calling him in
• 15:05
  Speaker 8: North Carolina a couple of days after their initial conversation,
• 15:09
  Speaker 8: but learned he was unable to talk to them.
• 15:13
  Speaker 6: He checked himself into a mental health facility.
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: And what did that say to you?
• 15:17
  Speaker 6: He had some kind of break, something happened to him, apparently.
• 15:19
  Speaker 8: So investigators turned to Caitlin's friends to learn more about
• 15:23
  Speaker 8: the relationship. Do you think he was the person he
• 15:27
  Speaker 8: presented himself to Caitlin?
• 15:30
  Speaker 12: Absolutely not.
• 15:32
  Speaker 8: Hannah McDowell met Caitlin two years earlier when she landed
• 15:36
  Speaker 8: a job at the restaurant Caitlin managed. Sharing a love
• 15:41
  Speaker 8: for music and dancing, they became fast friends and eventually roommates.
• 15:48
  Speaker 8: They also shared their frustrations about the local dating scene
• 15:52
  Speaker 8: in Bedford County, Virginia, which prompted them to look for
• 15:56
  Speaker 8: love online.
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: What was she looking for.
• 16:00
  Speaker 12: Well, she wanted someone that was supportive and be a
• 16:03
  Speaker 12: father to Milaney as well, and possibly get married.
• 16:07
  Speaker 8: In January of twenty twenty two, when Caitlin connected with
• 16:11
  Speaker 8: Trenton on a dating app. The tall, fitness obsessed and
• 16:16
  Speaker 8: apparently successful North Carolina native seemed to be marriage material.
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: How had she described him to you, Well.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: He had his stuff together. She was excited to have
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: a relationship with him.
• 16:29
  Speaker 8: When Caitlin's aunt, Shehrry, met Trenton, she admits she was impressed.
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: He told me that he owned a security company and
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: he owned his own construction company. We had talked about
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: him doing my floors because he had me thinking he was,
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: you know, this awesome builder.
• 16:50
  Speaker 12: And then eventually he was at the apartment all the.
• 16:53
  Speaker 8: Time, which made Hannah wonder how Trenton, who lived three
• 16:57
  Speaker 8: hours away, could spend weeks on end and at their
• 17:01
  Speaker 8: apartment while also running two businesses.
• 17:05
  Speaker 12: And when I would leave in the morning, when I
• 17:07
  Speaker 12: would come home from lunch, when I would get home
• 17:09
  Speaker 12: from work, he would always.
• 17:11
  Speaker 8: Just be on the couch, And she says, over time
• 17:15
  Speaker 8: it seemed Caylen wasn't leaving the apartment much either.
• 17:20
  Speaker 12: She's quiet, she didn't hang out with friends. She was
• 17:23
  Speaker 12: just very isolated.
• 17:24
  Speaker 8: Did you get the feeling that it was because of
• 17:28
  Speaker 8: him that she wasn't going out as much, dancing as much.
• 17:32
  Speaker 12: Yes, and he would track her location on her phone.
• 17:37
  Speaker 12: I feel like she was chained to him almost.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: I can't say that I like him, but I can't
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: say that I didn't like him.
• 17:47
  Speaker 8: Will Crystal had her concerns about the relationship with Trenton.
• 17:51
  Speaker 8: Caitlin never confided that anything was wrong.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: She's always been so strong, so I knew my daughter
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: could handle herself.
• 17:59
  Speaker 8: But Caitln. He did express some frustration with the relationship
• 18:03
  Speaker 8: to her aunt Sherry.
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: She said, I'm so tired of paying for everything. She said,
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: if he's got all this money, I mean, these businesses,
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: why does he have money? And I said, well, Caitlyn,
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: that's a red flag right there.
• 18:16
  Speaker 8: More red flags appeared when he tried to convince her
• 18:19
  Speaker 8: to move with him to North Carolina, where he said
• 18:22
  Speaker 8: he would find them an apartment.
• 18:24
  Speaker 12: In reality, he was not reliable and.
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: Wasn't fulfilling what she.
• 18:31
  Speaker 12: Thought he was going to do.
• 18:34
  Speaker 8: In early September twenty twenty two, Trenton admitted the truth
• 18:39
  Speaker 8: he couldn't find an apartment because he lacked the credit
• 18:43
  Speaker 8: and source of income to qualify.
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: Caitlyn called me from work and she was screaming and crying,
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: just like bawling crime and she was like, he's a liar,
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: he's a lot about her thing. He doesn't have a job.
• 18:56
  Speaker 8: Days later, Caitlyn announced she was breaking up with him.
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: She was done, she was done, so she cut him off.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: She did she blocking?
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: Oh, she actually blocked him blocking.
• 19:08
  Speaker 8: Yeah, And that's when Caitlyn learned her friend Jacob Pearsy
• 19:12
  Speaker 8: was also looking for a place and as if he
• 19:15
  Speaker 8: wanted to find an apartment with her in Milaney.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: They finally found this one apartment and we were so
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: excited that they were going to be so close to us.
• 19:25
  Speaker 8: While Kitlyn was making a fresh start, it seemed Trent
• 19:29
  Speaker 8: and Fry did not want to let her go.
• 19:32
  Speaker 10: He was actually sitting in the parking lot of her
• 19:35
  Speaker 10: apartment watching everything Caitlyn was doing.
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: Have you seen a big change in your sister?
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: She just said, all the tom she has bags under
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: her eyes and now where she didn't happen before because
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: she don't sleep. She's not sleeping.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: I woke up this morning and sheer panic.
• 20:10
  Speaker 8: In the days following Caitlyn's death, Crystal began sharing her
• 20:15
  Speaker 8: grief with others on TikTok.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: I got a text message and for an instant I'll
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: think that it's Caitlyn.
• 20:27
  Speaker 6: I end up seeing some of her tiktoks by accident.
• 20:30
  Speaker 6: She was completely innocent. She didn't do anything wrong.
• 20:36
  Speaker 8: Investigator Burnette was convinced that Trent and Fry had somehow
• 20:41
  Speaker 8: gotten into Caitlin's apartment and strangled her. Why did Trent
• 20:48
  Speaker 8: and Fry kill the woman he's said he loved.
• 20:53
  Speaker 6: I think because she told him no and he couldn't.
• 20:55
  Speaker 6: He couldn't take the rejection from her.
• 20:59
  Speaker 8: Invest Gator Burnett now needed to prove it.
• 21:04
  Speaker 6: We started looking at obviously more of a cell phone records.
• 21:07
  Speaker 13: Tracking that history, we found that his phone pings were
• 21:10
  Speaker 13: in the area of Forest, Virginia.
• 21:15
  Speaker 8: Commonwealth Attorney West Nands was assigned the case. He says
• 21:19
  Speaker 8: investigators were able to obtain Trent and Fry's cell phone
• 21:23
  Speaker 8: after he checked himself into that mental health facility in
• 21:27
  Speaker 8: North Carolina, and that's how they learned that the device
• 21:32
  Speaker 8: had started pinging off a cell tower in Virginia on
• 21:37
  Speaker 8: October fourth, three days before Caitlin's attack.
• 21:43
  Speaker 13: He wasn't just in Virginia, he was in at least
• 21:46
  Speaker 13: the area of Caitlin's new apartment complex.
• 21:52
  Speaker 8: Investigators canvass the apartment complex and found two of Caitlin's
• 21:57
  Speaker 8: neighbors who remembered seeing an unfamiliar man sitting at a
• 22:03
  Speaker 8: picnic table for hours. One snapped a photo of the
• 22:07
  Speaker 8: stranger on the afternoon of October six, the day before
• 22:12
  Speaker 8: Caitlin's attack.
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: Who you believe that is?
• 22:15
  Speaker 13: Well, we've later determined it to be Trent and Fry.
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: How close to Caitlin's apartment is that?
• 22:22
  Speaker 8: Why there?
• 22:23
  Speaker 13: So this is an elevated vantage point. It looks directly
• 22:27
  Speaker 13: down on her building.
• 22:28
  Speaker 8: Did Caitlin Montgomery have any idea that somebody had been watching.
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: Her for days?
• 22:33
  Speaker 9: No? No, ma'am.
• 22:35
  Speaker 8: And does it appear that she wasn't just being watched,
• 22:38
  Speaker 8: she was being followed and stopped, absolutely, investigators learned. Two
• 22:46
  Speaker 8: hours after that photo was taken, Trenton Fry's SUV was
• 22:51
  Speaker 8: recorded by a surveillance camera pulling into a gas station
• 22:55
  Speaker 8: near the apartment complex. He was seen inside the store,
• 23:00
  Speaker 8: now wearing all black. It was around that time that
• 23:04
  Speaker 8: Fry texted Aunt Sherry.
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: He wanted to know if I still wanted my floors finished,
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: and I didn't respond back.
• 23:12
  Speaker 8: To him.
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: I immediately called Caitlyn. Well, she unblocks the number and
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: tells him do not call my aunt anymore.
• 23:18
  Speaker 8: The text between Caitlyn and Trent and Fry, says Prosecutor Nance,
• 23:23
  Speaker 8: became heated. Fry made it clear he knew she was
• 23:27
  Speaker 8: living with Jacob Pearcy and he didn't like it.
• 23:31
  Speaker 13: So there's an anger and jealousy underlying those text messages.
• 23:37
  Speaker 13: He starts to call her a piece of and tell
• 23:40
  Speaker 13: her that Karma is a bitch.
• 23:42
  Speaker 8: Jacob Piercy says that Caitlyn called him sounding frightened.
• 23:47
  Speaker 7: At one point, she told me that she wanted to
• 23:49
  Speaker 7: go to her mom's house and pick up her self
• 23:52
  Speaker 7: defense weapon that she had, her pistol.
• 23:58
  Speaker 8: Caitlyn didn't go through with that plan. Later, Jacob, Caitlyn,
• 24:02
  Speaker 8: and Mlaney had dinner together and watch TV. Around midnight,
• 24:09
  Speaker 8: Jacob says he heard a noise near their second floor balcony.
• 24:13
  Speaker 7: Spread open the curtain real quick to look. I didn't
• 24:15
  Speaker 7: see anything.
• 24:16
  Speaker 4: Did you lock or unlock the sliding door?
• 24:20
  Speaker 5: Yeah?
• 24:20
  Speaker 8: I believe I locked it, But investigators later learned the
• 24:24
  Speaker 8: lock on the sliding glass door was broken, and they
• 24:28
  Speaker 8: suspected that's how Trent and Fry gained entry. His Google
• 24:33
  Speaker 8: searches revealed that he had looked up the layout of
• 24:36
  Speaker 8: the unit, which they believed helped him find Caitlin's bedroom.
• 24:41
  Speaker 13: I think it was an absolute brutal, sudden sneak attack
• 24:46
  Speaker 13: on then sleeping Caitlin.
• 24:50
  Speaker 8: Fry strangled Caitlyn, investigators say, with those charging cords, while
• 24:55
  Speaker 8: her daughter Mulane slept nearby with her.
• 24:59
  Speaker 13: Child weighing beside her.
• 25:01
  Speaker 9: I don't think it gets much worse.
• 25:06
  Speaker 8: After Fry left, says Nance, Milani alerted Jacob Pearcy that
• 25:11
  Speaker 8: something was wrong with her mother. Trend and Fry's digital
• 25:17
  Speaker 8: footprint from that morning, says Nance, gives him away.
• 25:22
  Speaker 13: Mister Fry started to google breaking news, and specifically, he
• 25:27
  Speaker 13: looked to see if he had any rest warrants out
• 25:29
  Speaker 13: for himself.
• 25:30
  Speaker 8: There weren't any warrants for him at the time, but
• 25:34
  Speaker 8: thirteen days later, investigators had one in hand as they
• 25:39
  Speaker 8: traveled to the mental health facility in North Carolina.
• 25:43
  Speaker 6: I'm not stupid, I know you guys are here to
• 25:46
  Speaker 6: take me in.
• 25:47
  Speaker 8: Trend and Fry agreed to talk to investigators and denied
• 25:50
  Speaker 8: any involvement in Caitlin's death. He said he had checked
• 25:54
  Speaker 8: himself into the hospital because the only person he had
• 25:58
  Speaker 8: ever considered harming was himself.
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: Knowing who I am, I could never hurt her on
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: how much I care about her.
• 26:08
  Speaker 8: He did finally admit he had been in Virginia, but
• 26:11
  Speaker 8: claimed he was only looking for a job and apartment,
• 26:15
  Speaker 8: hoping that he could eventually convince Caitlin to get back together.
• 26:19
  Speaker 8: I was trying to give her space what I figured
• 26:22
  Speaker 8: everything out, but when challenged with evidence that he was
• 26:26
  Speaker 8: at her apartment complex.
• 26:28
  Speaker 9: I'm missing pieces of time for like the last month.
• 26:31
  Speaker 8: Trent and Fry claimed he had no memory of it,
• 26:34
  Speaker 8: that he's sometimes blacked out for long periods of time,
• 26:39
  Speaker 8: including the hours around Caitlin's attack.
• 26:43
  Speaker 6: Is there anything else that could contribute to your memory loss?
• 26:48
  Speaker 10: Drugs?
• 26:49
  Speaker 8: No, no alcohol?
• 26:50
  Speaker 6: You know, you guys can test me.
• 26:52
  Speaker 8: Investigators had hurt enough day and took Trent Fry into custody.
• 27:03
  Speaker 8: And how did you feel that he had been arrested?
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: Relieved that somebody was going to be, you know, held accountable.
• 27:12
  Speaker 8: Trent and Fry was charged with first degree murder and
• 27:16
  Speaker 8: pleaded not guilty.
• 27:20
  Speaker 5: There's no evidence, no hard evidence, nothing you can point
• 27:23
  Speaker 5: to to prove that Trenton was ever in that apartment.
• 27:27
  Speaker 8: Trenton Fry's defense attorney, Joseph send Zone, insists his client
• 27:33
  Speaker 8: didn't kill Caitlyn. He prepared to argue a trial that
• 27:38
  Speaker 8: there wasn't a murder at all.
• 27:40
  Speaker 5: I don't think anybody tried to kill Caitlyn. I think
• 27:42
  Speaker 5: it was purely an accident.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: Today marks two months, two months from the last time
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: that I told my daughter I loved her. Tomorrow marks
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: three months. Today is sixteen months. It's been twenty five
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: months since my twenty eight year old daughter was murdered.
• 28:17
  Speaker 8: As the months dragged on a waiting trial, Crystal and
• 28:21
  Speaker 8: her family demanded justice for Caitlin on billboards purchased around town.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: We now have a new court date. This one should
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: be it, and I pray to God that it is.
• 28:33
  Speaker 8: Trent and Fry entered the courtroom in March of twenty
• 28:36
  Speaker 8: twenty five, two and a half years after Caitlin's death.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: Her family was there, her brothers were there, her aunts
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: were there.
• 28:46
  Speaker 8: CBS Rowano reporter Layla Mitchell covered the trial.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: Prosecutors argue that Trenton Fry stopped, obsessed over, and ultimately
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: strangled Caitlyn lyons.
• 28:57
  Speaker 8: Layla Mitchell reported on TV. Caitlin's family updated their growing
• 29:02
  Speaker 8: community of supporters on TikTok while Prosecutor west Nance made
• 29:08
  Speaker 8: his case to the most important audience of all, the jury.
• 29:14
  Speaker 13: Well, of course we're calling later that same aftercom mister
• 29:17
  Speaker 13: Fry hold, I wasn't in Virginia. I was working in
• 29:22
  Speaker 13: North Carolina. I didn't even know where Peyton lived. Mister
• 29:27
  Speaker 13: Fry had given a number of inconsistent statements what I
• 29:31
  Speaker 13: would absolutely characterize as lies because they were all in
• 29:34
  Speaker 13: conflict with one another, and so.
• 29:36
  Speaker 9: They approached it again.
• 29:38
  Speaker 5: In this time he relied on him on excuse how
• 29:42
  Speaker 5: the bad so thought right clearly had amnesia.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: I don't remember. Oh I hate if you messed up.
• 29:48
  Speaker 8: But Prosecutor west Nance didn't have to rely on Fry's memory.
• 29:53
  Speaker 8: Not only did he have the digital data from Fry's
• 29:56
  Speaker 8: phone placing him in the area. Investigation CATS had also
• 30:01
  Speaker 8: discovered that his device made one very important connection after
• 30:06
  Speaker 8: Caitlin and her daughter went to bed at four fifteen.
• 30:11
  Speaker 13: Right after they go to bed, trickly fry cell phone connects.
• 30:16
  Speaker 9: The in the iPad shows.
• 30:18
  Speaker 8: The connection Fry's phone had automatically connected to Caitlin's iPad
• 30:25
  Speaker 8: via bluetooth, providing the only evidence, says Nance, that plays
• 30:31
  Speaker 8: Fry inside Caitlyn's apartment.
• 30:34
  Speaker 13: Now we have the two of them within feet of
• 30:37
  Speaker 13: each other during the window of the injuries.
• 30:40
  Speaker 8: And what about that sound that Jacob Piercy heard earlier
• 30:43
  Speaker 8: that evening. Nance believes that it was Trent and Fry
• 30:48
  Speaker 8: positioning this metal bench that belonged to their downstairs neighbor
• 30:53
  Speaker 8: on the brick wall under their balcony.
• 30:57
  Speaker 13: So perfectly extra separately, but mister needed to get the.
• 31:02
  Speaker 9: Best sentence for him.
• 31:05
  Speaker 8: Trend. Fry's defense attorney, Joseph san Zone, concedes that Fry,
• 31:10
  Speaker 8: devastated after the breakup, was in the area and admits
• 31:15
  Speaker 8: that Fry was at Caitlin's apartment complex, but says he
• 31:21
  Speaker 8: was only outside.
• 31:24
  Speaker 5: I agree with the billboards in this case justice for Caitlin,
• 31:29
  Speaker 5: but it should happen after a review of all the evidence.
• 31:34
  Speaker 8: He points to the lack of DNA evidence at the
• 31:37
  Speaker 8: scene and disputes the prosecution's iPad bluetooth connection theory.
• 31:44
  Speaker 9: We don't know where the iPad was, and.
• 31:47
  Speaker 8: That's because the iPad was recovered by investigators at aunt
• 31:51
  Speaker 8: Cherry's house. She told them she grabbed it from Caitlin's
• 31:56
  Speaker 8: apartment when she picked up Malaney after thet But it
• 32:01
  Speaker 8: was in the apartment.
• 32:02
  Speaker 9: Ray, Well, no, we don't know that. We just know
• 32:05
  Speaker 9: it connected.
• 32:06
  Speaker 8: Would you admit, though, that he's a pretty unlucky guy
• 32:09
  Speaker 8: that he happens to be outside the apartment when someone
• 32:13
  Speaker 8: else kills his ex girlfriend.
• 32:15
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and whoever did it in that circumstance is the
• 32:18
  Speaker 5: luckiest guy.
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: Jacob Pearcy, the man who found Caitlyn Lyon unresponsive, took
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: the stand to testify today.
• 32:26
  Speaker 8: Jacob Piercy, sand Zone argued, was the more likely killer.
• 32:31
  Speaker 8: What would be Jacob Pearcy's motive for killing Caitlin.
• 32:35
  Speaker 5: I don't think anybody trying to kill Caitlyn. I think
• 32:37
  Speaker 5: it was purely an accident.
• 32:39
  Speaker 8: San Zone suggests that Jacob Pearcey strangled Caitlyn in a
• 32:44
  Speaker 8: consensual sex act, one that went too far.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: I was furious, he degraded, he humiliated my daughter. Oh
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: I was I was so mad.
• 33:00
  Speaker 13: The medical examiner found no evidence of any sexual assault
• 33:05
  Speaker 13: or he's even recent sexual activity. This is not sex
• 33:08
  Speaker 13: gone wrong.
• 33:09
  Speaker 9: This is a murder.
• 33:13
  Speaker 8: A murder sands Zone says Trent and Fry couldn't have
• 33:17
  Speaker 8: committed saying it was impossible for Fry to get into
• 33:21
  Speaker 8: Caitlin's apartment, kill her and get away without waking anyone,
• 33:28
  Speaker 8: especially the dogs. Isn't impossible that someone slipped into the apartment,
• 33:33
  Speaker 8: quietly strangles her and left and not alarmed the dogs.
• 33:38
  Speaker 5: Only Tom Cruise can do that as far as I'm know,
• 33:41
  Speaker 5: I just can't imagine.
• 33:43
  Speaker 9: And in real life, sand Zone.
• 33:45
  Speaker 8: Is a witness whom he believes can help make his
• 33:49
  Speaker 8: case Trent and Fry himself.
• 34:07
  Speaker 4: Did you expect Trent to take the stand?
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: I didn't. I was shocked.
• 34:15
  Speaker 8: When Trent and Fry took the stand to tell the
• 34:17
  Speaker 8: jury his story. He appeared to have regained his memory
• 34:21
  Speaker 8: of his actions that night.
• 34:23
  Speaker 9: To do anything. So no, that's that's all I did
• 34:28
  Speaker 9: was watch.
• 34:30
  Speaker 6: And walk around.
• 34:31
  Speaker 5: If they don't hear from your client, they're not gonna
• 34:35
  Speaker 5: believe what you say.
• 34:36
  Speaker 9: They need to hear from the person.
• 34:39
  Speaker 6: I don't ever remember being in an apartment because I
• 34:41
  Speaker 6: never was.
• 34:42
  Speaker 8: Prosecutor Wes Nance challenge Fry's story.
• 34:46
  Speaker 13: You were spine, yes, you were gathering intail, yes.
• 34:52
  Speaker 8: But Fry remained adamant that he could not have killed Caitlin, and.
• 34:57
  Speaker 6: I could not have climbed that balcony without making a sound.
• 35:00
  Speaker 9: I would have to be a ninja of some sort.
• 35:03
  Speaker 8: But Nan says that gas station surveillance photo of Fry,
• 35:07
  Speaker 8: taken hours before the murder, proves that he dressed the part.
• 35:13
  Speaker 13: A ninja is known for being in stealth mode, and
• 35:16
  Speaker 13: I think changing his outfit to black is him going
• 35:20
  Speaker 13: into stealth mode. Don't let the excuses, don't let the
• 35:24
  Speaker 13: word play, don't let the.
• 35:25
  Speaker 9: Memory as confuse. Pretty Fries gave me from first.
• 35:31
  Speaker 8: Agree, But would that add up to reasonable doubt for
• 35:35
  Speaker 8: the jury.
• 35:37
  Speaker 9: Until they have some cloud it's inside the park. Nothing
• 35:45
  Speaker 9: in this tests to be pretty not worl thing.
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: Today the jury will be told that they can either
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: find Trenton Fry guilty of first degree murder, second degree murder,
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: or they can find him not goilty at all.
• 36:01
  Speaker 3: All of our nerves our own edge, So wish us
• 36:04
  Speaker 3: all up today.
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: It's gonna be rough. We weren't gonna leave whether it
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: was an hour or twenty hours.
• 36:12
  Speaker 4: But she didn't have to wait very long, tissue.
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: No, the jury wasted no time today deliberating for just
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: about an hour.
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: Because it came back so quick, I was very concerned
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: that it didn't go the way that we wanted.
• 36:27
  Speaker 8: Moments later, Crystal heard the three words she had been praying.
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: For, guilty first degree.
• 36:37
  Speaker 8: Trent and Fry was found guilty of first degree murder
• 36:40
  Speaker 8: in Caitlin's death.
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: I was staring at his face the entire time, and
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: he had no reaction. When the verdict was read, Caitln's
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: family burst into tears.
• 36:51
  Speaker 10: Having Trenton Fry be accountable for his actions does bring
• 36:54
  Speaker 10: our family a little bit of peace.
• 36:57
  Speaker 8: Tina Flank by her sisters in Caitlyn's brothers announced the
• 37:01
  Speaker 8: verdict to their supporters.
• 37:03
  Speaker 10: This entire process has been brutal for our family.
• 37:08
  Speaker 8: Four months later, they returned to court for Trent and
• 37:12
  Speaker 8: Fry's sentencing.
• 37:14
  Speaker 11: This man didn't just take a life, he destroyed a family.
• 37:17
  Speaker 8: Caitlin's brother spoke about the impact on the lane.
• 37:21
  Speaker 11: He left my niece to wake up next to her
• 37:23
  Speaker 11: mother's lifeless body. She now lives in fear of the
• 37:26
  Speaker 11: dark and the monsters that come to your home while
• 37:28
  Speaker 11: you're sleeping.
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: I beg God too many times to count to please
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: please take me, let me die because of pain is unbearable.
• 37:36
  Speaker 8: Crystal was clear what she hoped for her daughter's killer.
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: I was sentenced to a lifetime without my daughter. Malanie
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: was sentenced to a lifetime without her mama. So he
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: needs life, mister, He would stand pleasers than anything you wished.
• 37:57
  Speaker 8: To say, Yes, Trent, I turned to Caitlin's family.
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: I probably have not felt it on the level that
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: you all have, but I have felt it for her loss.
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: And I truly am sorry for the loss that you
• 38:12
  Speaker 3: have experienced.
• 38:14
  Speaker 8: But he never took responsibility for Caitlyn's murder.
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: The amount of terror, the amount of horror inflicted upon
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: this young, innocent woman.
• 38:27
  Speaker 9: Is unimaginable.
• 38:28
  Speaker 8: Responsibility that Judge James Updike reminded him was his loan.
• 38:34
  Speaker 5: Unimaginable to anyone, to everybody.
• 38:38
  Speaker 9: Except to you. Because you were there. He saw, he
• 38:45
  Speaker 9: caused it.
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: I hearby a sentence you to imprisonment.
• 38:49
  Speaker 8: For life, life in prison.
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: Even though we got the verdict, we wanted my daughter
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: still not here. If I could walked out of that
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: courtroom and hooked her, then I would have won. Nobody won.
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: I think that everyone that has lost their lives to
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: domestic violence their names need to be said.
• 39:19
  Speaker 8: Crystal's TikTok videos are now focused on sharing Caitlin's experience
• 39:25
  Speaker 8: and hoping her story could help save someone else.
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: I don't want another mother, another family to go through
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: what we're going through. I have to be my daughter's voice,
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: and I have to help save other women.
• 39:38
  Speaker 8: She and her family have embraced the man who did
• 39:41
  Speaker 8: all he could to save Caitlyn, Jacob Pearcy.
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: He's a hero. She needed him and he was doing
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: everything he could to help her.
• 39:50
  Speaker 7: They opened up and welcome you to Christmases and Thanksgivings
• 39:55
  Speaker 7: and hangouts and birthdays and cookouts. And they really made
• 39:59
  Speaker 7: me like part of.
• 40:00
  Speaker 8: The family, a family still adapting in Caitlin's absence. It's
• 40:07
  Speaker 8: burning up. Crystal enjoys a familiar role as Mlanie's grandmother,
• 40:13
  Speaker 8: while Aunt Sherry, who always shared a special bomb with
• 40:17
  Speaker 8: Caitlin and her little girl, has become Mulanie's guardian.
• 40:22
  Speaker 4: What does she call you?
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: She calls me Mama, na, old mommy.
• 40:26
  Speaker 4: Was that hard for you at first?
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: Yes, because I didn't want my sister to be upset,
• 40:31
  Speaker 3: because I didn't want her to think I was taking
• 40:33
  Speaker 3: Mlanie from Caitlyn. A racing Caitlin.
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: I was like, absolutely not. You know you are her
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: mommy now. She knows she's got mommy number one that
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: had her Caitlin, But you're her mommy now.
• 40:47
  Speaker 8: Mlanie will get to know her first mom through the
• 40:50
  Speaker 8: journals she left.
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: Your younger self would be so envious of where you
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: are now. You're such a hard worker and such an amazing.
• 40:59
  Speaker 8: Mother, Caitlin, as she saw herself.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: You're beautiful, powerful, and so strong.
• 41:07
  Speaker 8: Her final entry focused on one subject love.
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: I am loved. I deserve to be loved. I am
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: worthy of love. She knew that she was loved. She
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: still is, very much as he