Latest / NO FILTER / Mom drugs son with cold medicine before torching his body amid custody dispute(MP3_160K)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: I'm Chris Hansen right now on Crime Watch Daily from
- 0:03Speaker 1: here in New York. An adorable five year old to
- 0:16Speaker 1: you a.
- 0:17Speaker 2: Horrifying car rack. It crushes it. You just can't understand it.
- 0:21Speaker 1: Little Daniel Dana tragically lost in what looks like a
- 0:24Speaker 1: fiery accident, But a clue hidden in the back seat
- 0:27Speaker 1: will reveal something much more sinister.
- 0:29Speaker 3: It was a premeditated, horrific crime.
- 0:33Speaker 1: Crime Watched Daily's Michelle Sagona with a story of shocking betrayal, revenge.
- 0:38Speaker 4: They were using Daniel as a pawn.
- 0:41Speaker 1: And an unspeakable crime.
- 0:42Speaker 2: What did he do that.
- 0:44Speaker 5: Was so bad?
- 0:46Speaker 2: Murdered and sat on fire?
- 0:49Speaker 1: Then a Crime Watched Daily update, A team vanishes and
- 0:53Speaker 1: the trail leads to the last place his parents ever
- 0:55Speaker 1: imagine you.
- 0:56Speaker 6: Could barely hear myself think with my heart pounding in
- 0:58Speaker 6: my chest.
- 1:02Speaker 1: Their close family friend keeping a dark secret in his
- 1:05Speaker 1: small garage, and it opens a can of.
- 1:08Speaker 7: Warm How many boys subsequently have come forward?
- 1:12Speaker 1: Right now, Andrea Isisen serve with Crime Watch Daily, Jason
- 1:15Speaker 1: Mataro a Crime Watch Darry.
- 1:16Speaker 3: This, I'm Elizabeth, I'm here with Crimewatch.
- 1:19Speaker 8: I'm Michelle from Crimewatch Daily.
- 1:21Speaker 9: Anagarcia from Crime Watch is crime Watch Dale.
- 1:25Speaker 7: We'll find you again, we always do.
- 1:31Speaker 1: Welcome to crime Watch Daily everyone, I'm Chris Hansen. First
- 1:34Speaker 1: up today, Paramedics rushed to an awful sea. A car's
- 1:37Speaker 1: engulfed in flames, a mother and her five year old
- 1:40Speaker 1: son inside. What first responders wouldn't know is that terrible
- 1:44Speaker 1: accident was more of a setup. Michelle Sagona is in
- 1:47Speaker 1: Maryland now with details A heartbreaking tragedy.
- 1:52Speaker 3: One firefighter says, is that a body.
- 1:57Speaker 9: A five year old boy killed in a fiery car crash.
- 2:01Speaker 2: There was in fact a small body in the back
- 2:04Speaker 2: of the car, which was Daniel.
- 2:08Speaker 9: His mother badly burned.
- 2:11Speaker 4: She's suffering from burns over thirty five to forty percent
- 2:13Speaker 4: of her body.
- 2:15Speaker 9: Fire investigators sit through the charge wreckage.
- 2:17Speaker 2: There's just something odd about it.
- 2:19Speaker 9: And uncover a dark secret barry in the backseat.
- 2:22Speaker 3: That was a premeditated, horrific crime on one of the
- 2:27Speaker 3: most vulnerable among us, a five year old little boy.
- 2:34Speaker 9: You no one ever thought this would be Daniel Dane's
- 2:40Speaker 9: last birthday.
- 2:42Speaker 4: Beautiful video of Daniel at his fifth birthday party, surrounded
- 2:45Speaker 4: by his father and a grandmother and an aunt.
- 2:48Speaker 9: Daniel was a bright, curious, soon to be first grader
- 2:50Speaker 9: who loved karate and playing his guitar.
- 2:53Speaker 4: You can see the love, you can see the happiness,
- 2:56Speaker 4: and you can see Daniel's beautiful smile and face. Daniel
- 2:59Speaker 4: was a beautiful child who was loved.
- 3:02Speaker 9: The only thing that made the little five year old
- 3:05Speaker 9: sad his parents constant fighting.
- 3:08Speaker 3: They met in Iran, got married, and shortly thereafter he
- 3:12Speaker 3: brought her to the United States. I think it was
- 3:14Speaker 3: challenging for the marriage.
- 3:17Speaker 9: Attorney Marybeth Ayres says Nargus chafferad and to me, Dana's
- 3:21Speaker 9: marriage was doomed from the beginning.
- 3:23Speaker 3: They're actually related their first cousins, but not biologically. She
- 3:27Speaker 3: was adopted.
- 3:29Speaker 9: Court records show the Iranian immigrants had filed restraining orders
- 3:32Speaker 9: against each other. Prosecutor Steve Chakin says there were even
- 3:36Speaker 9: allegations of abuse.
- 3:38Speaker 4: There was a lot of going back and forth with
- 3:41Speaker 4: arguing text messages.
- 3:43Speaker 9: Their bitter divorce was followed by an even nastier custody
- 3:46Speaker 9: battle over little Daniel. Airs says Nargus was jealous over
- 3:51Speaker 9: a young nanny Hamid had hired and was livid when
- 3:55Speaker 9: Daniel spent time with them. Seems like at this point
- 3:57Speaker 9: she was willing to do anything and to go to
- 4:00Speaker 9: any link to make sure that child would not spend
- 4:03Speaker 9: time with his father.
- 4:04Speaker 3: Yes, and I think the way she saw the child
- 4:08Speaker 3: was kind of spoils of the custody war.
- 4:11Speaker 9: Hamid, in turn, hired a private investigator to prove Nargus
- 4:15Speaker 9: was an unfit mother.
- 4:16Speaker 4: He wanted custody and it was horrible they were using
- 4:20Speaker 4: Daniel as a pawn.
- 4:22Speaker 9: The day before the final hearing to determine which parent
- 4:24Speaker 9: would win primary custody of Daniel, Nargus asked a friend
- 4:28Speaker 9: to borrow his car and drives to Daniel's school in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
- 4:32Speaker 8: Talk to me exactly about what happened.
- 4:34Speaker 3: It was the last day of school and she picked
- 4:37Speaker 3: up Daniel. She took him to a lot of different
- 4:39Speaker 3: restaurants and then just started to drive around.
- 4:43Speaker 9: Sometime around three am, Nargus decides to drive Daniel to
- 4:46Speaker 9: Ocean City, Maryland, about four hours away, for a spontaneous
- 4:50Speaker 9: beach trip, but they never make it. On a dark,
- 4:55Speaker 9: twisting suburban road, Nargus loses control of the car barrel's
- 4:59Speaker 9: over a common creek median and the car explodes into
- 5:03Speaker 9: a firebomb.
- 5:06Speaker 10: In a distance, I saw a vehicle that was like
- 5:08Speaker 10: on fire.
- 5:10Speaker 8: You saw the actual vehicle on fire.
- 5:13Speaker 9: Paramedic RG. Kepke just happened to be returning from another
- 5:17Speaker 9: call and rushed to the scene. What's the first thing
- 5:19Speaker 9: you did when you actually got out to the vehicle.
- 5:23Speaker 10: I asked the bystanders outside if there was anybody in
- 5:26Speaker 10: the car. Some of the bystanders said, there was an
- 5:29Speaker 10: individual on the ground on the other side of the car.
- 5:33Speaker 9: It's Nargus, face down on the asphalt, writhing in pain.
- 5:37Speaker 8: Was she badly burned?
- 5:38Speaker 10: Some of her clothes were burnt off, and she had
- 5:41Speaker 10: some dark colored skin going on. So she was talking.
- 5:45Speaker 10: She was screaming, and I asked her if there anybody
- 5:46Speaker 10: else in the car, and she said her son was
- 5:48Speaker 10: in the car, but the car was still on fire.
- 5:51Speaker 9: The desperate bomb pleads for Kepke to save her only son,
- 5:55Speaker 9: but all four the car doors are locked.
- 5:59Speaker 10: The whole inside I was covered with smoke. All the
- 6:01Speaker 10: windows were dark. I was able to bust out a
- 6:04Speaker 10: window open some doors. I didn't see anything except like
- 6:07Speaker 10: a bunch of blankets on the floorboards, and I didn't
- 6:10Speaker 10: see a child's car seat or anything in the back seat.
- 6:14Speaker 9: Moments later, a Montgomery County fire engine arrives and firemen
- 6:17Speaker 9: extinguished the flames, but there's no sign of Daniel.
- 6:20Speaker 8: What did you do at that point?
- 6:22Speaker 10: I still asked if she had her son in there,
- 6:24Speaker 10: and she said yes, So I didn't know if she
- 6:27Speaker 10: was like out of her mind, like you know, maybe
- 6:29Speaker 10: she thought he was there, but he wasn't.
- 6:31Speaker 9: Nargus Is rushed to a burn trauma center and grave condition.
- 6:34Speaker 9: Firefighters then began digging through this still smoldering car. They
- 6:39Speaker 9: find heartbreak.
- 6:41Speaker 8: What did you discover?
- 6:42Speaker 11: The firefighters discovered a body in the back seat, literally
- 6:46Speaker 11: covered up by blankets.
- 6:48Speaker 8: Did you actually see Daniel in the back seat?
- 6:51Speaker 10: I saw part of them.
- 6:53Speaker 9: Daniel is burned beyond recognition, but it's where his little
- 6:57Speaker 9: body is found. The raises eye.
- 7:00Speaker 11: Wasn't you figure I was wrapped up and pushed down
- 7:02Speaker 11: the back seat. It wasn't in the car seat that
- 7:05Speaker 11: she started going, Okay, this isn't right.
- 7:08Speaker 9: Fire investigator Joel Shackett and a crash reconstruction team are
- 7:11Speaker 9: called in to determine how the car caught fire, and
- 7:14Speaker 9: more importantly, how little Daniel died. Was the fire pretty significant.
- 7:19Speaker 2: To the interior of the car?
- 7:20Speaker 9: Yes, police photos revealed the cars badly charred interior, But oddly,
- 7:25Speaker 9: there's little damage of any kind to the outside of
- 7:28Speaker 9: the car.
- 7:29Speaker 2: It just didn't seem to be adding up for something
- 7:33Speaker 2: that had that much action. You'd think that it would
- 7:36Speaker 2: be a very high speed collision.
- 7:38Speaker 9: And even stranger, the car's fuel tank was completely intact.
- 7:42Speaker 8: There was nothing wrong with the vehicle.
- 7:44Speaker 2: There were no leaks, There was nothing that was broken
- 7:46Speaker 2: during the collision, fuel tank, fuel pump, fuel lines.
- 7:51Speaker 9: If there was no damage to the fuel tank, then
- 7:53Speaker 9: what would explain this.
- 7:55Speaker 2: Several people had said that they smelled something that they
- 7:57Speaker 2: believed was gasoline.
- 8:00Speaker 9: Was Daniel's death a tragic accident or a twisted cover up?
- 8:04Speaker 2: What did he do that was so bad?
- 8:06Speaker 9: So bad that he had to be murdered and set
- 8:08Speaker 9: on fire?
- 8:13Speaker 1: We returned to today's Crime Watch daily mystery about a
- 8:16Speaker 1: Marilyn mother who was badly burned her son killed in
- 8:19Speaker 1: a tragic car fire.
- 8:20Speaker 2: Let's head back to Michelle Segona.
- 8:22Speaker 9: Chris, a thirty five year old mother is covered in burns,
- 8:25Speaker 9: her car englfed in flames, and her five year old
- 8:28Speaker 9: son is dead in the back seat. But as investigators
- 8:31Speaker 9: would take a closer look at this accident, a much
- 8:34Speaker 9: different picture was revealed. Fire investigators in Gaithersburg, Maryland are
- 8:40Speaker 9: about to uncover the most heartless crime imaginable.
- 8:45Speaker 2: They saw that there was something that wasn't right.
- 8:50Speaker 9: When rescuers arrive on the scene, they initially believe five
- 8:53Speaker 9: year old Daniel Dana is the innocent victim of a
- 8:55Speaker 9: fiery crash.
- 8:57Speaker 8: When you're there and you see this little body in
- 8:59Speaker 8: the back.
- 9:00Speaker 2: It crushes you, you just can't understand it. But we
- 9:04Speaker 2: have a job to that. We have to find out
- 9:07Speaker 2: what caused this fire.
- 9:12Speaker 9: Daniel's mother, Nargus Chafferad, who was driving the boy to
- 9:15Speaker 9: the beach that night, is also severely burned and rushed
- 9:19Speaker 9: to a burn.
- 9:19Speaker 10: Unit, mainly her hand. So I thought at that time
- 9:22Speaker 10: that she was maybe trying to put the fire out.
- 9:25Speaker 9: By all appearances, a horrific tragedy until an arson dog
- 9:30Speaker 9: gets a whiff of something truly terrible.
- 9:33Speaker 2: The investigator that was actually up on the car said
- 9:36Speaker 2: he thought he had an odor of something similar to gasoline.
- 9:40Speaker 9: The odd thing that odor is not coming from the
- 9:44Speaker 9: outside of the car. It's from the inside.
- 9:47Speaker 2: It was on Daniel's close it was on the blanket
- 9:49Speaker 2: Daniels wrapped in. It was on the front seat. It
- 9:52Speaker 2: was on the floor in the front seat. It was
- 9:53Speaker 2: along the door rails. It was on the floor of
- 9:56Speaker 2: the back seat where Daniel was located.
- 9:59Speaker 9: US getters can't figure out is how the gas got there.
- 10:03Speaker 2: We found no mechanical problems with.
- 10:05Speaker 5: The vehicle at all.
- 10:07Speaker 8: This was just an odd scene from the beginning, what
- 10:09Speaker 8: you say.
- 10:10Speaker 11: We finally figured out that there was something more than
- 10:12Speaker 11: just a car fire.
- 10:13Speaker 9: After an accident, cops head to the burn center to
- 10:16Speaker 9: speak with Little Daniel's mom. She's in grave condition, but
- 10:20Speaker 9: offers up a strange explanation, claiming she was hauling two
- 10:24Speaker 9: gallons of gasoline in the front seat.
- 10:27Speaker 8: Ch actually gave an excuse to say that.
- 10:29Speaker 2: That she was supposed to be going to the beach
- 10:31Speaker 2: and she didn't want to run on a field.
- 10:34Speaker 9: Nargis tells investigators she filled two water jugs with gasoline
- 10:38Speaker 9: in case she couldn't find a late night gas station
- 10:41Speaker 9: on their way to the beach, stowed them in the
- 10:43Speaker 9: passenger seat for god, then a short while later, lights
- 10:47Speaker 9: up a cigarette and the Carie rocks.
- 10:50Speaker 3: She had fumes on her right hand, and that's what
- 10:53Speaker 3: ignites first, is her right hand, and then some of
- 10:56Speaker 3: her body ignites as well, and then she throws herself
- 10:58Speaker 3: out of the car.
- 11:00Speaker 9: The distraught mom's explanation, while bizarre, seems feasible, but it's
- 11:04Speaker 9: what Nargus doesn't ask investigators that raises real suspicion.
- 11:09Speaker 3: She never once asked the police about her son. You know,
- 11:13Speaker 3: is he dead? How did he die?
- 11:15Speaker 12: Not?
- 11:15Speaker 3: And didn't even shed a tear.
- 11:17Speaker 9: Do you think she had any plans at all to
- 11:20Speaker 9: go to Ocean City, Maryland?
- 11:21Speaker 3: Absolutely not. I think that that was a made up story.
- 11:25Speaker 3: Anybody who has any sort of small life experience knows
- 11:28Speaker 3: that there's gas stations between here and someplace that's at
- 11:32Speaker 3: least four hours away.
- 11:34Speaker 9: As detectives continue to sit through the scorched wreckage, they
- 11:38Speaker 9: hit what they call an aha moment.
- 11:40Speaker 3: The gas tank in the car wasn't even full. So
- 11:43Speaker 3: when she said she filled up the extra gasoline and
- 11:47Speaker 3: the containers just in case there weren't gas stations on
- 11:49Speaker 3: the way to Ocean City, we know that's a lie
- 11:52Speaker 3: because she didn't even fill up her own gas tank.
- 11:54Speaker 8: All the way.
- 11:56Speaker 9: Then this prosecutor, Steve Schaffen, says, detectives discover someone tried
- 12:00Speaker 9: to torch the car before it erupted into a deadly firebomb.
- 12:04Speaker 4: We can see the attempt on the right side front door.
- 12:07Speaker 4: You can see the charring where somebody took a lighter
- 12:09Speaker 4: and actually just tried to light the car on fire.
- 12:12Speaker 5: That didn't work.
- 12:14Speaker 9: Could it be possible a loving mom douses her five
- 12:17Speaker 9: year old with gas, lights him on fire, then stands
- 12:20Speaker 9: back and watches and burn to death.
- 12:23Speaker 4: We believe that she's now using the gasoline to sprinkle
- 12:27Speaker 4: it on Daniel, and it even reached his underwear.
- 12:30Speaker 9: Then, the most shocking revelation of all.
- 12:32Speaker 2: The medical examiner told us that he didn't have any
- 12:37Speaker 2: SOT in his lungs, so that means he wasn't breathing
- 12:41Speaker 2: at the time of the fire. He was already dead,
- 12:43Speaker 2: So Daniel was already that.
- 12:48Speaker 13: Up.
- 12:48Speaker 9: Next, if the five year old wasn't killed in the fire,
- 12:51Speaker 9: how did Daniel die?
- 12:53Speaker 4: This was an attempt to cover up a brutal murder
- 12:56Speaker 4: of her own child and make it look like an accident.
- 13:05Speaker 9: Five year old Daniel. Dana did not die in a
- 13:08Speaker 9: tragic carfire. His death was not an accident, it was murder.
- 13:15Speaker 9: At what point did your investigation take a turn down
- 13:20Speaker 9: the homicide path?
- 13:21Speaker 2: The very second we were informed from the Chief Medical
- 13:23Speaker 2: Examiner's office ad they were going to call it a hamsuck.
- 13:28Speaker 9: The medical examiner says the little boy was dead before
- 13:31Speaker 9: the first flame. Toxicology reports show he was poisoned given
- 13:36Speaker 9: a fatal dose of dyfhen hydromine.
- 13:38Speaker 3: What's interesting is diffhen hydromine is not a drug that
- 13:40Speaker 3: you find an average children's medicine. You really only find
- 13:43Speaker 3: it in benadryl. But that's not medicine that you give
- 13:46Speaker 3: to a child to bring down a fever or for
- 13:48Speaker 3: a cold or anything like that. It's medicine you would
- 13:51Speaker 3: give to a child for allergies, poison, ivy, a rash,
- 13:54Speaker 3: none of which he had.
- 13:56Speaker 9: And the amount of the drug found in little Daniel's
- 13:59Speaker 9: body horrifying.
- 14:01Speaker 3: He had two and a half times in his blood
- 14:03Speaker 3: what would kill an adult.
- 14:05Speaker 9: Daniel's mom, Nargus Chafferd tells detectives that fatal overdose was
- 14:09Speaker 9: also an accident, claiming she unknowingly gave her only son
- 14:13Speaker 9: too much medicine for his cold, then panicked when he
- 14:17Speaker 9: stopped breathing.
- 14:18Speaker 3: She gave her son, Daniel, at least a bottle of liquid,
- 14:22Speaker 3: maybe more.
- 14:24Speaker 9: An accidental overdose not likely, but nobody wants to believe
- 14:28Speaker 9: a mother would kill her own five year old son.
- 14:31Speaker 9: Then police uncovered this text message Nargus sent to Daniel's
- 14:35Speaker 9: father months earlier. It explains in detail the proper dosage
- 14:39Speaker 9: of medicine to give Daniel for a cold.
- 14:42Speaker 3: It wasn't as if she was clueless. She knew the
- 14:45Speaker 3: exact amounts like any good parents should.
- 14:48Speaker 9: And the most heartbreaking news out of the Montgomery County
- 14:51Speaker 9: Corner's office, this sweet little boy actually tried to fight
- 14:54Speaker 9: for his life against his own mother.
- 14:57Speaker 4: He had injuries to his eyelid, to his cheek, to
- 14:59Speaker 4: his face, parts of his face because physically the medicine
- 15:02Speaker 4: was forced down his throat.
- 15:05Speaker 3: What's really horrifying in this case is that there are
- 15:08Speaker 3: injuries that are fresh that the medical examiner said shows
- 15:12Speaker 3: no signs of healing, which means that they most likely
- 15:16Speaker 3: occurred right around the time of his death, yes to
- 15:20Speaker 3: making him take it.
- 15:23Speaker 9: Prosecutor Steve Jakin says Daniel's brutal murder and cover up
- 15:26Speaker 9: was staged by the one person he trusted to love
- 15:30Speaker 9: and project him.
- 15:31Speaker 4: She planned it, she executed it, and instead of calling
- 15:34Speaker 4: nine one one, she went and poured gasoline on it.
- 15:38Speaker 9: Detectives believe Daniel most likely suffered for hours while his
- 15:41Speaker 9: mother drove around force feeding him medicine and waiting for
- 15:46Speaker 9: him to die.
- 15:47Speaker 4: At the exact moment when she needed to be a mother,
- 15:50Speaker 4: she made a decision to go get gasoline to burn
- 15:54Speaker 4: her son in the car to make it look.
- 15:56Speaker 8: Like an accident.
- 15:59Speaker 9: Once Daniel was dead and comps belief, Nargus then stuffed
- 16:01Speaker 9: his little lifeless body in the back seat of this car,
- 16:05Speaker 9: dused him with gasoline, and set him on fire.
- 16:11Speaker 8: He couldn't even defend himself.
- 16:13Speaker 2: What did he do that was so.
- 16:15Speaker 9: Bad, so terrible, and so bad that he had to
- 16:18Speaker 9: be murdered and then stuffed in a car.
- 16:20Speaker 2: And sat on fire.
- 16:22Speaker 4: This was an attempt to cover up a brutal murder
- 16:25Speaker 4: of her own child and make it look like an accident.
- 16:28Speaker 4: He burned to death woe as me, and to gain
- 16:32Speaker 4: pity and sorrow because she was the victim.
- 16:36Speaker 5: In the case.
- 16:37Speaker 9: Prosecutors believe Daniel's death was a cruel case of revenge.
- 16:41Speaker 9: Nargus was trying to get back at her a strange husband,
- 16:43Speaker 9: Hamid Dana, for divorcing her and trying to take Daniel away.
- 16:47Speaker 4: Father wanted custody more than anything. Mother stopped that from
- 16:51Speaker 4: happening because she killed him. Father will never get custody.
- 16:55Speaker 9: Court record show Nargus sent him this haunting text message
- 16:59Speaker 9: just days before Daniel's death, saying simply, I will make
- 17:03Speaker 9: you cry. You will be sorry.
- 17:06Speaker 4: They were using Daniel as a pawn and in this
- 17:10Speaker 4: war of divorce, the spoils of the war was murdered.
- 17:16Speaker 9: Instead of dragging everyone through a trial, the mother in
- 17:19Speaker 9: this case actually pled guilty to her charges, and Crime
- 17:22Speaker 9: Watch Daily was inside the courtroom on the day of sentencing.
- 17:27Speaker 9: Cameras were banned, but what I witnessed was raw and emotional.
- 17:31Speaker 9: You were fighting hard today for the maximum sentencing. Yes,
- 17:36Speaker 9: because you believe this was premeditated.
- 17:39Speaker 3: Absolutely, and it was an extremely premeditated and determined murder.
- 17:44Speaker 9: Nargus chafferad begged for mercy, telling the judge she was
- 17:48Speaker 9: a broken woman. The prosecution believes it was a desperate
- 17:50Speaker 9: act for a lighter sentence.
- 17:52Speaker 3: I actually looked over at her at one point and
- 17:55Speaker 3: she was doodling, drawing pictures in her notebook.
- 18:00Speaker 9: Daniel's father so heartbroken he tried to speak but couldn't,
- 18:04Speaker 9: instead releasing this written statement. Daniel didn't pass in an accident.
- 18:10Speaker 9: He passed because this woman wanted to get back at
- 18:12Speaker 9: me and seek revenge for divorcing her. No human should
- 18:16Speaker 9: do this to her own child. No parent should have
- 18:20Speaker 9: to bury their child. Then Circuit Judge Nelson Rupe delivers
- 18:25Speaker 9: his sentence.
- 18:26Speaker 14: Judge Nelson Rupe of the Circuit Court for Montomy Canny,
- 18:30Speaker 14: gave Miss Sapharad, who was the mother of Daniel, a
- 18:35Speaker 14: sentence of life suspend all but fifty years.
- 18:39Speaker 8: Did the judge get it right today?
- 18:41Speaker 3: I think justice won today and that is always something
- 18:46Speaker 3: great to take home with you.
- 18:48Speaker 9: But firefighters want Daniel's father to take something else home
- 18:52Speaker 9: with him.
- 18:53Speaker 2: The fire is what killed Daniel, and at some point
- 18:58Speaker 2: in time I hope that he's able to at least
- 19:05Speaker 2: understand that his son is now in a better place
- 19:11Speaker 2: and at some point they will meet again.
- 19:15Speaker 1: At sentencing, Daniel's father, Hamid also told the judge the
- 19:18Speaker 1: last words he spoke to his son when he was
- 19:20Speaker 1: dropping him off at his mother's house the day of
- 19:22Speaker 1: his murder. He said, please be strong. Daniel responded, Daddy,
- 19:25Speaker 1: I'm strong, You be strong. Hamid is now living up
- 19:29Speaker 1: to that word, devoting his life to being an advocate
- 19:31Speaker 1: for children who were victimized by domestic abuse. Up next
- 19:36Speaker 1: their son's mysterious disappearance.
- 19:39Speaker 6: I got a sinking feeling in my stomach.
- 19:41Speaker 1: Not readed letter heeds a couple to a suspicion they
- 19:45Speaker 1: don't want to believe.
- 19:46Speaker 6: To barely hear myself think with my heart pounding in
- 19:48Speaker 6: my checks.
- 19:51Speaker 1: As the two year anniversary approaches, Caleb Dial's father gives
- 19:55Speaker 1: our Jason Matteria his theory on what happened.
- 19:57Speaker 6: That I believe with every fiber of my heart, and
- 20:00Speaker 6: you've murdered my son.
- 20:02Speaker 1: That's next book. Next week will mark the two year
- 20:06Speaker 1: anniversary in the search for Texas Team Caleb Deal. Just
- 20:10Speaker 1: two weeks after his eighteenth birthday, Caleb would borrow a
- 20:13Speaker 1: family friend's truck.
- 20:14Speaker 5: He would never be seen again.
- 20:16Speaker 1: Jason Mattera is in Texas now with the details.
- 20:20Speaker 15: For the parents of now twenty year old Caleb Deal,
- 20:22Speaker 15: life has become a waiting game.
- 20:25Speaker 6: These things happen, they go on, but then all of
- 20:27Speaker 6: a sudden, Wow, is this a possibility in our life?
- 20:30Speaker 7: Now?
- 20:30Speaker 15: Waiting for him to miraculously walk through the front door,
- 20:34Speaker 15: or waiting for the news they dread to here.
- 20:37Speaker 16: I'm not ready to let him. I want to just
- 20:41Speaker 16: don't think there is a chance.
- 20:42Speaker 17: That they're wrong.
- 20:43Speaker 15: One thing is for sure. Nobody has seen any sign
- 20:47Speaker 15: of Caleb since the day he disappeared nearly two years ago,
- 20:51Speaker 15: and now Primewatch Daily has new development in the case.
- 20:54Speaker 15: Caleb disappeared from his mother's house in Nicola, Texas, about
- 20:57Speaker 15: one hundred miles northwest of Dallas, with a population of
- 21:01Speaker 15: just over three thousand people. It's a small town with
- 21:05Speaker 15: some heavy baggage.
- 21:06Speaker 6: If there's any good thing that could come out of
- 21:08Speaker 6: what has happened to Caleb is the exposure to the
- 21:12Speaker 6: reality of what took place in the denial that so
- 21:15Speaker 6: much of this town has been under. They can no
- 21:17Speaker 6: longer live in this state of denial.
- 21:21Speaker 15: Caleb Deal is the youngest of the family, with three
- 21:24Speaker 15: sisters and a brother.
- 21:26Speaker 7: Tell me about your brother, Caleb.
- 21:27Speaker 18: He was a baby and mama's a boy.
- 21:31Speaker 8: And here was I mean, he was awesome, really outgoing, friendly.
- 21:33Speaker 18: Everyone loved him.
- 21:35Speaker 2: Fearless.
- 21:35Speaker 6: He wasn't one to back down from anything.
- 21:38Speaker 2: Really.
- 21:39Speaker 15: Caleb sister Courtney, is the last one to see him
- 21:42Speaker 15: alive on a Monday evening when he heads out the
- 21:44Speaker 15: door and nobody has any idea where he's gone.
- 21:48Speaker 8: He said he was going with a friend. His friend
- 21:51Speaker 8: wasn't even in town and we found out later with
- 21:53Speaker 8: loss of his home.
- 21:54Speaker 15: And according to police, the friend in question leader says
- 21:58Speaker 15: that he and Caleb never had any plans to meet.
- 22:01Speaker 15: It's a question that has plagued this family for days
- 22:04Speaker 15: on end. Where on earth is Caleb and what happened
- 22:09Speaker 15: to him?
- 22:09Speaker 7: Did anything seem unusual?
- 22:11Speaker 17: No, not at all.
- 22:13Speaker 13: He had just applied for a job and he was
- 22:15Speaker 13: planning on going back that next day for his interview.
- 22:18Speaker 15: Kleb is driving a Chevy pickup truck borrowed from this man.
- 22:23Speaker 15: Ricky Howard a family friend with a wife and three
- 22:26Speaker 15: kids and a close friend of Caleb's family as well.
- 22:31Speaker 18: But Whitewater Rafting all of the family, their kids were
- 22:34Speaker 18: very close in age, with all of us be going
- 22:36Speaker 18: along really well.
- 22:38Speaker 15: Ricky Howard is a successful and popular businessman in town,
- 22:42Speaker 15: but with a checkered past. A former bank president, He
- 22:46Speaker 15: was convicted and served time on bank for our charges
- 22:49Speaker 15: in two thousand and seven, but he still keeps his
- 22:51Speaker 15: friends close.
- 22:52Speaker 6: He was a good friend. He was the kind of
- 22:54Speaker 6: friend that if you needed something, he was the first
- 22:57Speaker 6: one to be there and help you. He was a
- 22:59Speaker 6: kind and joy oilble guy to be around.
- 23:01Speaker 15: Caleb works odd jobs for Ricky, who has investments in farming, cattle,
- 23:05Speaker 15: and oil wells, and owned several properties in the area.
- 23:09Speaker 15: In fact, police say that the last known person that
- 23:12Speaker 15: Caleb contacted before his disappearance was Ricky Howard.
- 23:18Speaker 7: What did Ricky Howard say? They were talking about work?
- 23:21Speaker 17: Ricky Howard told us that Caleb had told him that
- 23:23Speaker 17: he was wanting to bar the trucks to go to Oklahoma,
- 23:27Speaker 17: where he met a girl and worked for her. Nobody
- 23:30Speaker 17: else knew anything about it. That's just what Ricky told us.
- 23:33Speaker 7: Knowing what you know, now, do you think that story
- 23:35Speaker 7: is believable to me?
- 23:37Speaker 2: I think no.
- 23:38Speaker 15: And when nobody in the family sees or hears from
- 23:40Speaker 15: Caleb for two days, one of the first people they
- 23:43Speaker 15: contact is Ricky Howard. He tells them the same story
- 23:47Speaker 15: about Caleb running away to Oklahoma.
- 23:50Speaker 19: That was the first anybody you know, none of us
- 23:52Speaker 19: had heard anything about some job. He was supposed to
- 23:54Speaker 19: be going to school, so that was just kind of unusual.
- 23:57Speaker 15: Two days after Caleb disappears, Tammy Deal files a missing
- 24:02Speaker 15: person's report with the police.
- 24:04Speaker 19: Never would he just leave and not tell anybody, you know,
- 24:07Speaker 19: we were all too close, and he was too close
- 24:08Speaker 19: with his brother and sisters.
- 24:10Speaker 15: But even as she heads out to file the report,
- 24:12Speaker 15: the Borrow pickup truck suddenly shows up the same day,
- 24:17Speaker 15: but without Kleb, and police and the family are stunned
- 24:22Speaker 15: at exactly where it turns out of all places, right
- 24:25Speaker 15: smack in the middle of Ricky Howard's locked garage.
- 24:29Speaker 17: She called Ricky Howard and told him that she was
- 24:33Speaker 17: fishing to know the police and reported missing. About an
- 24:36Speaker 17: hour and a half. He would take from that, Ricky
- 24:38Speaker 17: Hard tells the police department said the truck that Caleb
- 24:41Speaker 17: was in, which belonged to Ricky Harard, was found inside
- 24:45Speaker 17: his barn.
- 24:47Speaker 15: And police say the truck in Ricky's garage raises some
- 24:50Speaker 15: important questions that are still unswered to this day.
- 24:53Speaker 7: Was there anything unusual inside the truck?
- 24:56Speaker 17: There were three one hundred dollar bills zip tied to
- 24:58Speaker 17: the stern wheel. The key to the shop, which is
- 25:02Speaker 17: normally above the walking door to get in the shop,
- 25:04Speaker 17: was in the seat of the pickup. The shop was
- 25:08Speaker 17: locked up. The only other person that could have access
- 25:11Speaker 17: to the shop was pretty happy. It was kind of suspicious.
- 25:14Speaker 15: That nobody has an explanation from the money zip tied
- 25:18Speaker 15: to the steering wheel. But Ricky Howard fully cooperates, giving
- 25:22Speaker 15: cops permission to search his property and they make some
- 25:25Speaker 15: more curious discoveries.
- 25:27Speaker 17: He had guns and stuff in a gun safe.
- 25:29Speaker 7: Was that illegal?
- 25:30Speaker 2: Yes?
- 25:31Speaker 7: Did he realize that he was a convicted felon and
- 25:33Speaker 7: couldn't own these weapons?
- 25:34Speaker 17: I'm sure he did, but it did stop it.
- 25:36Speaker 15: Ricky is charged with illegal possession of firearms and cops
- 25:40Speaker 15: stay focused on finding Caleb and any evidence that can help.
- 25:44Speaker 15: But something is missing.
- 25:46Speaker 7: When you searched Howard's properties, I mean a guy who
- 25:49Speaker 7: was running a business. You didn't find any computers.
- 25:52Speaker 17: We didn't find any computers that were up and running. Now,
- 25:54Speaker 17: we did find some that have been destroyed and burned up.
- 26:00Speaker 15: According to police, Ricky's place is a hotbed of destroyed technology.
- 26:04Speaker 7: Caleb obviously he's a teenager. He has a cell phone,
- 26:06Speaker 7: was his cell phone ever recovered.
- 26:08Speaker 17: His cell phone was never recovered by us. After interviewing
- 26:11Speaker 17: Ricky Howard, he stated that he found a cell phone
- 26:14Speaker 17: smashed in the shop when he was taking the garbage
- 26:17Speaker 17: out and threw it in the garbage. In the time
- 26:18Speaker 17: the truck was found, the garbage had already been picked up,
- 26:21Speaker 17: so we have no evidence if that was Caleb's phone.
- 26:25Speaker 15: Police combed the surrounding countryside with dogs, searching for any
- 26:29Speaker 15: sign of Caleb, but as they ponder Ricky Howard's story,
- 26:33Speaker 15: the deal family only worries more for their son's fate.
- 26:38Speaker 15: Something isn't right.
- 26:40Speaker 6: I got a sinking feeling in my stomach because things
- 26:43Speaker 6: just weren't adding up. I had the what if in
- 26:46Speaker 6: my mind.
- 26:47Speaker 15: But it isn't until Chad says he meets with state
- 26:50Speaker 15: and federal lawman that he becomes truly alarmed.
- 26:54Speaker 6: All the pieces of the puzzle that had the Texas
- 26:57Speaker 6: Rangers and the FBI persuaded that Ricky was most definitely
- 27:03Speaker 6: involved with Caleb. That was their persuasion, and so I
- 27:07Speaker 6: couldn't ignore. You know, these professionals in the line of
- 27:10Speaker 6: business they're in.
- 27:11Speaker 15: There is no move to charge Ricky with any fan
- 27:14Speaker 15: play in Caleb's disappearance, and the Texas Rangers and the
- 27:17Speaker 15: FBI have not responded to our request for comment, but
- 27:21Speaker 15: Chad says he cannot return until he clears the air
- 27:24Speaker 15: with Ricky Howard.
- 27:26Speaker 6: I tell everybody there at the table, I want them
- 27:28Speaker 6: to know that I've loved the Howard family for a
- 27:32Speaker 6: long time, and I didn't want anybody to think that
- 27:34Speaker 6: I didn't love or care about him, but that I
- 27:36Speaker 6: needed to talk to Ricky alone.
- 27:38Speaker 15: Next, Chad goes face to face with a man he
- 27:41Speaker 15: once called his best friend, demanding answers.
- 27:45Speaker 6: I could barely hear myself think with my heart pounding
- 27:48Speaker 6: in my chest.
- 27:59Speaker 1: Now back to a crime. I watched daily Update. Where's Caleb?
- 28:02Speaker 1: Signs are up all over the town of Dacoona, Texas
- 28:05Speaker 1: with one simple message, bring Caleb home. The eighteen year
- 28:08Speaker 1: old vanished nearly two years ago after borrowing the truck
- 28:11Speaker 1: of a family friend.
- 28:12Speaker 2: A man who's no stranger to trouble with the law.
- 28:15Speaker 1: Jason Mattera is in Texas now with the latest on
- 28:17Speaker 1: the search.
- 28:19Speaker 15: Rumors and speculation and gulf the small town of Dakona, Texas.
- 28:22Speaker 15: In the days and weeks following the mysterious appearance of
- 28:26Speaker 15: the pickup truck in Ricky Howard's garage. The last person
- 28:30Speaker 15: seen driving the truck then eighteen year old Caleb Deal,
- 28:34Speaker 15: who borrowed it from Ricky. His fate remains unknown, and
- 28:38Speaker 15: his family is left living in a limbo of fear
- 28:41Speaker 15: and worry to this.
- 28:42Speaker 12: Day, Alie, any theories on what happened and why, I.
- 28:46Speaker 18: Have absolutely no idea. I know a lot of people
- 28:51Speaker 18: want to go to that Ricky did something to him
- 28:57Speaker 18: and that he's gone, but it's very hard for me
- 29:00Speaker 18: to go there. I need proof.
- 29:02Speaker 12: Courtney, your mom said it's difficult to take any more
- 29:06Speaker 12: family photos with all her kids because Caleb's not in them.
- 29:14Speaker 8: Oh.
- 29:14Speaker 13: Absolutely, I mean just before we came inside, we took
- 29:18Speaker 13: a picture and there's just something missing. There will always
- 29:22Speaker 13: be something missing. Now there was five two three girls
- 29:29Speaker 13: and two boys. No, I feel like we have one
- 29:32Speaker 13: brother said it two.
- 29:34Speaker 6: I didn't know what else to do. I was tired
- 29:35Speaker 6: of dealing with things in my mind and asking questions.
- 29:38Speaker 6: I wanted to ask Ricky Howard some questions.
- 29:40Speaker 15: Unable to remain silent, Chad heads to Ricky Howard's house
- 29:44Speaker 15: and confronts him man's man with his suspicions. It's a
- 29:48Speaker 15: dramatic and frightening encounter.
- 29:50Speaker 6: Well, I took my chair and I squared it up
- 29:52Speaker 6: to the table and I looked at Ricky. I said, well, Ricky,
- 29:54Speaker 6: I want you to know and I want you to
- 29:56Speaker 6: hear it from me. So it's not rumor that I
- 29:58Speaker 6: believe with every fiber of my heart, my soul, and
- 30:04Speaker 6: my mind that you've murdered my son. No expression of sadness,
- 30:10Speaker 6: no outshowing of anger. He said, well, I'm sorry you
- 30:12Speaker 6: believe that. I said, well, that is what I believe.
- 30:18Speaker 6: And I got to go, and I got up and
- 30:19Speaker 6: I turned around and I walked out. I didn't have
- 30:21Speaker 6: to get into the reasons why I believe he knew why.
- 30:25Speaker 6: It was the most intense moment of my life.
- 30:27Speaker 7: For sure.
- 30:29Speaker 15: Chad has his theories and police have their suspicions.
- 30:32Speaker 7: Is Ricky Howard a suspect in Caleb's disappearance?
- 30:36Speaker 17: I would say, Ricky Howard's a high interest high interest,
- 30:40Speaker 17: That's what I would say.
- 30:41Speaker 15: And to be clear, Ricky Howard has not been charged
- 30:44Speaker 15: with any involvement in the disappearance of Caleb. Deal as
- 30:47Speaker 15: his attorney, Bobi Strada. We'll gladly tell you why do
- 30:51Speaker 15: you think Ricky Howard is the focus of the investigation
- 30:55Speaker 15: into Caleb Deal's disappearance.
- 30:57Speaker 20: I think he's the focus of the investigation because the
- 31:00Speaker 20: Internet chatter.
- 31:01Speaker 7: Internet chatter, right, there's been.
- 31:03Speaker 5: A lot of it.
- 31:04Speaker 20: There's different websites, there's different talks, there's lots of innu indo.
- 31:09Speaker 5: But so far there's been no proof.
- 31:12Speaker 15: But in the course of the investigation into Kayle's disappearance,
- 31:15Speaker 15: other shocking developments now come to night. It happens when
- 31:19Speaker 15: police interview a man who once worked for Ricky Howard.
- 31:22Speaker 7: So you're interviewing this individual who used to work for
- 31:25Speaker 7: Ricky Howard when he was a teenager and out of nowhere,
- 31:28Speaker 7: he just says Ricky Howard molested him.
- 31:30Speaker 17: Right during an interview process, he goes, how mistakes.
- 31:34Speaker 7: That and this happened over twenty years ago.
- 31:37Speaker 17: It is a long time ago.
- 31:38Speaker 7: How many boys subsequently have come forward.
- 31:40Speaker 17: At this time, I want to say five or six.
- 31:44Speaker 17: Several of them are outside the statute of limitations.
- 31:47Speaker 7: How many are within the statute of limitations as of.
- 31:50Speaker 17: Right now, I believe two or three.
- 31:53Speaker 7: It's two decades old this case. How confident are you
- 31:56Speaker 7: these charges are going to stick.
- 31:57Speaker 5: I'm confident.
- 31:58Speaker 15: The deal family says they don't know if Caleb was
- 32:01Speaker 15: victimized by Ricky Howard, but looking back, they can only wonder.
- 32:06Speaker 7: It just didn't add up.
- 32:07Speaker 6: Coupled with we had begun to spend lots of time
- 32:10Speaker 6: with him as a family, and nothing added up. The
- 32:12Speaker 6: characteristics didn't manifest themselves.
- 32:16Speaker 5: So they were just friends.
- 32:17Speaker 19: I look at pictures of us on vacations with them,
- 32:20Speaker 19: you know, and we all look I think we all
- 32:22Speaker 19: looked so normal and happy.
- 32:25Speaker 15: Ricky Howard made a plea deal guilty to three counts
- 32:29Speaker 15: of unlawful possession of a firearm. He was sentenced to
- 32:32Speaker 15: five years in prison and could be parolled as early
- 32:35Speaker 15: as next year, but his attorney, Barbi Strada, says he's
- 32:38Speaker 15: going to fight this sexual assault charge.
- 32:41Speaker 5: The please.
- 32:44Speaker 20: For the aggravated sexual assault is not guilty.
- 32:49Speaker 15: One of the people they interviewed who worked for Ricky Howard,
- 32:55Speaker 15: he came clean and said that Ricky Howard molested him
- 32:57Speaker 15: twenty years ago and five hundred times over.
- 33:02Speaker 7: A four year period.
- 33:04Speaker 20: Think about that, five hundred times over a four year period.
- 33:11Speaker 5: And he says nothing.
- 33:15Speaker 20: Because he was a boy, he still said nothing and
- 33:19Speaker 20: he was able to talk.
- 33:20Speaker 7: You know why he said nothing. He said that Ricky
- 33:22Speaker 7: Howard kept a rifle in his truck and he was scared.
- 33:25Speaker 5: This is a rural area.
- 33:28Speaker 20: People keep rifles in their truck all over the place.
- 33:32Speaker 15: So then, what about the fate of Kayla and the
- 33:35Speaker 15: truck he was last seen driving mysteriously showing up in
- 33:38Speaker 15: Ricky's garage?
- 33:40Speaker 7: What does Ricky Howard think happened to Kayla?
- 33:42Speaker 20: I can't get into what Ricky Howard thinks happened to Kayla?
- 33:47Speaker 7: Has he told you?
- 33:48Speaker 5: I'm not gonna answer that question.
- 33:50Speaker 15: And how about those burned computers cops found on Ricky's property?
- 33:54Speaker 7: You know, I think about that.
- 33:55Speaker 20: I don't remember seeing torched computers on a list of
- 33:59Speaker 20: see items.
- 34:01Speaker 7: It's weird to hear.
- 34:02Speaker 15: I'm sure you would admit to hear someone had a
- 34:05Speaker 15: burned computer.
- 34:05Speaker 5: Well, how do we know it's Ricky's?
- 34:07Speaker 7: It was at his property.
- 34:08Speaker 20: That doesn't mean it was his. Other people had access
- 34:11Speaker 20: to the property.
- 34:12Speaker 15: But he does have at least one theory about what
- 34:15Speaker 15: really happened to Caleb.
- 34:16Speaker 20: There are other documented stories of people who have walked
- 34:22Speaker 20: off and started the new life. There are other people
- 34:26Speaker 20: who simply start a new life somewhere else, and at nineteen,
- 34:31Speaker 20: he'd be able to do it.
- 34:33Speaker 15: In the meantime, a family continues to hang on and
- 34:37Speaker 15: wait for answers.
- 34:39Speaker 7: As a mother, your hope is that your son is
- 34:41Speaker 7: still out there alive.
- 34:44Speaker 16: Until they can really show me some kind of proof.
- 34:47Speaker 16: I don't know if I'm ever gonna not have that hope.
- 34:51Speaker 16: There's just feeling, there's always a feeling, you can feel
- 34:55Speaker 16: it with all of us, that it's not right, that
- 34:59Speaker 16: it will never be at unless he comes home. I
- 35:01Speaker 16: just miss him. I miss him so much.