Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Popular young couple gunned down in own home. Targeted hit or mistaken identity?

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Popular young couple gunned down in own home. Targeted hit or mistaken identity? · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace N one one emergency. What's
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  Speaker 1: going on there? I walked into my friend's apartment and
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  Speaker 1: then there's this blood everywhere, and I just can't shoot
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  Speaker 1: on the ground. And I've seen her by me on
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  Speaker 1: the ground eye people. Yeah, And then and there's blood
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  Speaker 1: all over the wall. I just got from the wall
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  Speaker 1: that my daughter said in her apartment and if I
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  Speaker 1: heard from her in a couple of days, are you
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  Speaker 1: driving over there now? Yes? But when Connie arrives at
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  Speaker 1: the apartment, cops won't let her in. I just roam
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  Speaker 1: running to try to get into the apartment. Then I think,
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  Speaker 1: you can't go let my daughter's apartment and here, don't
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  Speaker 1: tell me it's hurt. They go, ma'am, you cannot go in. Tragically,
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  Speaker 1: Connie's worst nightmare was now a grim reality. Behind the
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  Speaker 1: walls of that apartment lay the blood wrenched bodies of
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  Speaker 1: Sydney and Neo, both shot in the head at close range.
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  Speaker 1: How did this happen? Friends find a gorgeous young couple
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  Speaker 1: shot dead inside a Vegas apartment. I'm talking about Neiha
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  Speaker 1: Maiah Neo Kaufman, just twenty in Sydney Land, just twenty
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  Speaker 1: one found dead. They have been living there in the
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  Speaker 1: apartment for several months together. As of now, no suspects
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  Speaker 1: but our two mystery men involved. How were they killed?
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  Speaker 1: What could possibly have been the motive? I mean, see Grace,
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  Speaker 1: this is crime stories. Thank you for being with us.
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  Speaker 1: We want answerers take a listen to this. Neo was
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  Speaker 1: a talented basketball player. Sidney worked at the palms at Caesar's.
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  Speaker 1: You see some of the candles behind me. Friends and
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  Speaker 1: loved ones identified the couple to us. So many tears
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  Speaker 1: here tonight. No one was more touched than the victim's
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  Speaker 1: young sister. Everybody loved her. She's so nice and so cool,
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  Speaker 1: and she's so sweet. She's had the biggest heart ever.
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  Speaker 1: Sidney Land was just twenty one years old. Her boyfriend,
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  Speaker 1: Neil Kaufman twenty a good hearted, kind hearted kid that
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  Speaker 1: was funny, and people gravitated towards him. Well over a
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  Speaker 1: hundred friends and loved ones gathered to say goodbye. Just
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  Speaker 1: hours ago. The couple was found dead. The door of
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  Speaker 1: their apartment opened when a friend walked in. Neil was
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  Speaker 1: shot found on the first floor, Sidney was upstairs. Detectives
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  Speaker 1: couldn't tell how she died tonight, police saying they believe
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  Speaker 1: both were victims of a homicide. Joining you right now,
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  Speaker 1: special guest Sidney Land's mother Connie, and an ACE reporter
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  Speaker 1: for the Baltimore Post Examiner, Doug Papa. By the way,
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  Speaker 1: you were hearing from our friends at Katie and V
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  Speaker 1: Channel thirteen in Vegas and our friend Melissa McCartney, a
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  Speaker 1: crime watch daily. First to you, Dave Mack, syndicated talk
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  Speaker 1: show host. What do we know about the k How
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  Speaker 1: were they found and did what was noticed there in
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  Speaker 1: the apartment? They shared? The condition of the bodies, Nancy
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  Speaker 1: and the condition of the apartment have all played a
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  Speaker 1: part of this investigation. Neo was found shot to death
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  Speaker 1: in the living room of the apartment, while Sydney was
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  Speaker 1: found shot to death in a back bedroom. But the
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  Speaker 1: important part of this from an investigation standpoint is the
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  Speaker 1: fact that this apartment was very busy. A lot of
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  Speaker 1: people were in and out of the apartment, from cigarette
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  Speaker 1: butts to drinking glasses. There was a lot of DNA
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  Speaker 1: and fingerprints of people other than Sydney and Neo who
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  Speaker 1: actually not just had access but invitations to be in
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  Speaker 1: that apartment. But again, Neo was found murdered shot to
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  Speaker 1: death in the living room. Sydney's body was recovered in
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  Speaker 1: the back bedroom. I want to go straight to Sydney's mother,
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  Speaker 1: Connie Land. Connie, thank you so much for being with us.
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  Speaker 1: You're welcome, Nancy, Connie. I want to go back to
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  Speaker 1: the moment you heard there had been some sort of incident.
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  Speaker 1: What happened. I'd gotten a phone call from my son Preston,
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  Speaker 1: and he said, Mom, have you heard from syd And
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  Speaker 1: I go, no, Preston, why And I could just tell
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  Speaker 1: in his voice there was something not right, and he
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  Speaker 1: was trying to be calm, and he goes, let me
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  Speaker 1: call you back, and I just, you know, my warning
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  Speaker 1: signs are going off like crazy. And I called him
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  Speaker 1: back and I go, Preston, what's going on? And he goes, Mom,
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  Speaker 1: I can't talk right now. I got to call you back.
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  Speaker 1: And I called him back and I go, Preston, what's
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  Speaker 1: going on. He goes, Mom, Lauren and Frankie haven't heard
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  Speaker 1: from Sydney. I go, Preston, get over to the apartment quick,
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  Speaker 1: get over there. And he called back and it was silence.
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  Speaker 1: She's gone. She's dead, said she and he just goes oh, Mom,
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  Speaker 1: she's dead. And I he was on the way over
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  Speaker 1: to the apartment, and I mean, I just remember exactly
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  Speaker 1: where I was at in my house when the call came.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, my first thought is what am I
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  Speaker 1: supposed to do? I I'm supposed to be going to
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  Speaker 1: a Wench meeting right now when kids are at school,
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  Speaker 1: and Steve's the fire station, and you know, just so
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  Speaker 1: I called, Steve's the fire station, and thank Heavens, he answered,
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  Speaker 1: and I know Sydney's dead. And he's like, what I know, Steve,
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  Speaker 1: Sydney's Sydney's dead. And at that point, I'm I didn't
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  Speaker 1: I couldn't even think if I'm calling nine one one.
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  Speaker 1: I figured somebody had called nine one one. Then I call,
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  Speaker 1: and then I'm going one hundred and twenty to the apartment,
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  Speaker 1: and you know, Steve would get there and Preston was
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  Speaker 1: already on his way. It was terrible. Everything you said
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  Speaker 1: is striking me. But you said you knew in that
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  Speaker 1: silence the same thing happened to me when I got
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  Speaker 1: the call to call my fiance's family any right then
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  Speaker 1: that Keith was dead, he was murdered. I didn't know
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  Speaker 1: he's murdered, but I knew that he was dead, and
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  Speaker 1: when his family picked the phone up, I said, one
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  Speaker 1: thing is Keith gone because I just knew it. And
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  Speaker 1: I don't know what that is. But you know, take
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  Speaker 1: a listen to our friend Adam Herbert's at Fox five Vegas.
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  Speaker 1: Somebody went into this complex and tried looking for the couple.
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  Speaker 1: They say that they had been missing for at least
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  Speaker 1: a few days, and then that's when they went inside
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  Speaker 1: the apartment and they found them there. They were dead.
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  Speaker 1: Police say it looked like they had been dead for
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  Speaker 1: at least twenty four hours, and now they're just trying
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  Speaker 1: to figure out who shot them to death. At the
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  Speaker 1: very least. Police say they do have a few clues.
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  Speaker 1: They say, right now it looks like they may have
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  Speaker 1: been murdered by two men, but other than that, they're
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  Speaker 1: not really releasing any other suspect description now. Friends and
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  Speaker 1: family said the victims are Neo Kaufman, he's just twenty
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  Speaker 1: years old, and Sidney Land, who's twenty one. They said
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  Speaker 1: Neo was just the kind of guy everybody gravitated to.
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  Speaker 1: He was an athlete, he was super funny. They also
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  Speaker 1: said Sydney was a woman with a big heart. She
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  Speaker 1: loved people, she loved to help people. And now everyone
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  Speaker 1: is trying to figure out why, how did this happen
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  Speaker 1: and why would anyone want to hurt these two people.
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  Speaker 1: There's no good motive for murder ever. To Karen Smith,
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  Speaker 1: let's talk about something that may push the case forward
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  Speaker 1: with me. Karen Smith for Insect's expert and a founder
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  Speaker 1: of Bare Bones Consulting. Karen Smith, you and I've worked
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  Speaker 1: a lot together. I want to know what you would do,
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  Speaker 1: what should have been done in this crime scene. Well, Nancy,
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  Speaker 1: first of all, like to say, Connie, I'd like to
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  Speaker 1: give you my deepest heartfelt condolences. Into the crime scene.
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  Speaker 1: You know, this is very complex. You have two people
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  Speaker 1: inside a place. It's a contained crime scene, which is
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  Speaker 1: a good thing. Hopefully it hasn't been trampled by detectives
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  Speaker 1: and other onlookers. At that point. The first thing that
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  Speaker 1: you want to do is seal off the crime scene.
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  Speaker 1: Make sure that nobody goes in and nobody comes out
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  Speaker 1: without being put on a log. The second thing that
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  Speaker 1: you're going to do is look at the evidence. Put
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  Speaker 1: on your tai vex suit. Make sure that you're not
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  Speaker 1: going to contaminate the scene yourself. And you go in
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  Speaker 1: and you start documenting with photography and video, and as
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  Speaker 1: you're doing that, you look at the scene as a whole.
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  Speaker 1: You look at where the bodies are positioned. You look
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  Speaker 1: at any evidence that maybe in the area, any shell casings,
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  Speaker 1: any weapons that are left behind, the positions of those
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  Speaker 1: pieces of evidence in relation to the body. You look
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  Speaker 1: at who was where inside the apartment or the house.
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  Speaker 1: You look at any wounds. You don't touch the body,
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  Speaker 1: that's not our jurisdiction, but you can look and you
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  Speaker 1: can see. Is there stipling, which is a gunpowder unburned
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  Speaker 1: and burned gunpowder residue that that it comes out of
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  Speaker 1: a gun. Is there any evidence of that which would
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  Speaker 1: mean a close quarter shooting? Is there any evidence of
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  Speaker 1: bullet trajectories in the wall? Where's the blood spatter evidence?
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  Speaker 1: Where is it located on the wall? Is it on
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  Speaker 1: the floor? Is their pooling? Is the blood wet? Is
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  Speaker 1: it dry? Have they been there a while? Have they not?
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  Speaker 1: Are they closed? Are they unclosed? Is there any evidence
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  Speaker 1: on that clothing? You look for fingerprints on doors, on windows?
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  Speaker 1: Is their force entry? These are just some of the
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  Speaker 1: very basic things that you do when you first go
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  Speaker 1: into a crime scene. This is not something that's going
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  Speaker 1: to be done in four hours. I would be surprised
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  Speaker 1: if they weren't there for two or three days. Nancy,
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  Speaker 1: what happened to Sydney Land and Neo Kaufman Crime stories
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  Speaker 1: with Nancy Grace, Niamiah Kaufman and Sydney And we're inside
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  Speaker 1: of an apartment in our southwest part of the valley
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  Speaker 1: when an unknown person entered the apartment and both of
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  Speaker 1: them were executed inside the apartment. They were both shot
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  Speaker 1: and killed inside the apartment. From there, we have followed
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  Speaker 1: dozens and dozens of leads in this investigation. There. Originally
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  Speaker 1: we've had a person that we have exhausted all leads
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  Speaker 1: on that we believe as a person of interest in
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  Speaker 1: that case. At the same time, we have followed up
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  Speaker 1: on other leads to make sure that we're checking any
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  Speaker 1: possible motives or any possible suspects. So, since that has occurred,
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  Speaker 1: like I said, there's been dozens and dozens of leads
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  Speaker 1: that we have followed. All of those have brought us
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  Speaker 1: back to the same point that we were two years ago.
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  Speaker 1: We do not know who committed this murder. That was
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: a press conference with Metro Homicide talking about how Sydney
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  Speaker 1: and Nia were executed inside there. Apart that they followed
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  Speaker 1: dozens of leads, but right now those leads have been exhausted.
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  Speaker 1: But now take a list to our Familysts and McCarty
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  Speaker 1: which stood out to you when walking through that crime scene.
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  Speaker 1: Many things stood out. The lack of fourth century, whoever
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  Speaker 1: was in the apartment with them appeared to be someone
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  Speaker 1: that they trusted, and there was something else about the
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  Speaker 1: circumstances surrounding their desks. Something that makes this murder an
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  Speaker 1: investigative nightmare was their DNA found. There were several items
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  Speaker 1: that contained DNA evidence. Now, the problem is these people
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  Speaker 1: had a lot of friends, a lot of associates, a
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  Speaker 1: lot of people that hung out at the apartment complex
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  Speaker 1: with them. So sorting through all the details of what
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  Speaker 1: was relevant and what's not hasn't been a challenge. You know.
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  Speaker 1: Straight back to that with me, forensics expert at Bare
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  Speaker 1: Bones Consulting, Karen Smith, You've got a beautiful young girl
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  Speaker 1: and her boyfriend dead, shot dead and I heard them
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  Speaker 1: use the phrase execution, So I do not believe this
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  Speaker 1: was a homicide suicide absolutely not, because both were victims
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  Speaker 1: of homicide. But you just heard the detective state that
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  Speaker 1: there was no forced entry and that the investigation was
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  Speaker 1: tough because there was so much DNA from different people
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  Speaker 1: having been there earlier at a party the day before. Right,
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  Speaker 1: And that's typical, Nancy, that's that's not a typical of
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  Speaker 1: a crime scene. You know, we have cups and cigarette
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  Speaker 1: butts and cans and bottles and all that. This is
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  Speaker 1: stuff that we deal with all the time. You don't
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  Speaker 1: exclude anyone, you don't exclude any DNA. And when you
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  Speaker 1: have if it's execution style, you're right, this was not
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  Speaker 1: a murder suicide. You know, that would bring me back
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  Speaker 1: to the bullet trajectories. That would bring me back to
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  Speaker 1: the medical examiner and their findings. What did they find?
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  Speaker 1: Where were they shot? Was there any stipling on the wound?
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  Speaker 1: Was there any stipling on the clothing? Where did it happen?
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  Speaker 1: And where were the casings? If a semi automatic was used,
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  Speaker 1: were the casings ejected? Where were they? You know, revolvers
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: a little difficult, they don't eject casing, So that's a
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  Speaker 1: different story. Right. However, when you have the projectile, where
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: they recovered. Can they throw those projectiles into the nive
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  Speaker 1: AND database, which is the National Integrated Ballistics Network and
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: do a mat on just one moment, I want to
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  Speaker 1: follow up with what you're saying. Joining me Doug Papa,
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  Speaker 1: reporter with the Baltimore Post Examiner and Sydney's mom, Connie
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  Speaker 1: Land to Doug Papa, do we know whether the ballistics
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  Speaker 1: have been traced? We don't know that. I believe I
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  Speaker 1: know the caliber of the weapon, but I'm not going
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: to say it protect the integrity of the investigation. But no,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: we don't know anything. Oh you know what, I think
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: that's not gonna have at the integrity investigation. What do
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  Speaker 1: you know the caliber? I believe the caliber was a
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  Speaker 1: forty five caliber. Okay, so this is how that goes
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: down to Daryl Cohen, were now defense attorney joining me
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: out of the Atlanta jurisdiction. You can find him at
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: Darryl Cohen dot TV. I remember the very first time,
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  Speaker 1: and I hate to tell you of the year. I
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: guess it was about nineteen eighty seven. I was at
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: the crime lab and the head of the Ballistics division
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: was showing me and I did it with him. How
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  Speaker 1: you match up bullets easy. You get your non bullet, Okay,
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  Speaker 1: you get another bullet, same caliber and what you think
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  Speaker 1: maybe the murder weapon, and you fire a bullet with
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: the murder weapon into a mattress or into a drum
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  Speaker 1: of water. Then you take the non bullet taken out
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  Speaker 1: of the victim, put it under a microscope, and you
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  Speaker 1: compare it to the one you just shot with the
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  Speaker 1: possible murder weapon. Bullets have what we call striations or
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: marks on them. It's unique to each gun, like a
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: fingerprint because when that gun is manufactured and the iron,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: the metal cools from the heat, it dries in its
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: own unique pattern inside the barrel. And as a bullet
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: is hurdling down the barrel, it hits the inside of
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  Speaker 1: the barrel and it gets markings markings from one gun
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  Speaker 1: on a bullet or unlike any other markings from any
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: other weapon period, it's a fingerprint. So Daryl Cohen, that's
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  Speaker 1: why I'm so interested if they did exactly what Karen
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: Smith was just talking about, got the bullet and added
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  Speaker 1: it into the ballistics database. It's like a fingerprint database
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: or a DNA database. There is a gun database. To Daryl,
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: it doesn't make any sense unless they did it. That
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: was Kelly Fight, wasn't it back in those days? Nancy?
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: It sure was. And guess what the other day, I
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: was driving along and I stopped and spoke to a
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: cop and he says, uh, you know my dad. I'm like, okay,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: did I put him in jail? And he goes to
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: know it was Kelly Fight? I mean, revered ballistics supervisor.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: But long story short, that is critical what Karen Smith
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: just said. You have to do that because that gives
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  Speaker 1: you the forensic evidence that you need. As a basic
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: you can't go forward without a base. You can't go
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: forward with a structure unless there's a basement, well, a
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: ground floor, and that's your ground floor. Yeah, that's a
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: good way to put it to Doctor Brian Russell, psychologists,
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: host of Fatal Vows, a hit series on Investigation Discovery,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: author of Stop Moaning, Start Owning on Amazon, Doctor Brian,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: I got something else, and this is for you. Neighbors
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  Speaker 1: at the apartment complex where Sydney and Neo lived say
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: that they were very quiet, very polite, that there had
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: never been any trouble, no arguments, no police calls, no
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: throwing of dishes, nothing like that. No even parking infraction.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: They kept to themselves, and the neighbors say they didn't
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: witness anyone enter or leaving the home, but critically, there
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: was no sign of a forced entry. You know, it's
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: hard for me to believe that this couple goes from
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: zero to one twenty mph over night. The neighbors say, quiet,
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  Speaker 1: chat to themselves, no problems, Doctor Brian Russell, what does
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: that mean to you? Well, a couple of things. One is, yes,
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  Speaker 1: I think if this had been the culmination of you
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: a havoc in the marriage, Yes, there probably would have
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: been a gradually escalating pattern that would have been observed
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: by other people. Now, one thing that I'll just add
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: to that, though, is you and I have discussed many
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: cases over the years where someone has been caught having
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: committed a murder and people go around and interview the neighbors,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: and the neighbors say, I never saw anything that gave
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: me any idea I was living next to a monster.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: And all that says is how little we tend to
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: know the people living right around us. So, you know,
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: while I do put some stock in what the neighbors say,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: I have to take it with a little bit of
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  Speaker 1: a grain of salt because of that. Yeah, see, can
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: I make a couple of corrections that are here? Absolutely Okay.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: Neil and Sidney had moved into the apartment approximately one
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: month before they were killed. I was told by the
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: police that it was a hangout place, that the neighbors
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: were not happy because kids were coming and going, and
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: they were playing music and you know, and it was
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: kind of a hangout spot. But they hadn't been there
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  Speaker 1: a very long time. What I was told by the
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: detectives is, you know, and again I don't know if
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: the detectives are misleading or providing information that's accurate or not,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: but there was actually a neighbor that was a retired
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: police officer I think from Detroit area that lived directly
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: across the apartment from the apartment complex. What I was
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: told is he was a night owl. They were night owls,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: or she was a night owl. He said. It was
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: very frustrating because the couple did not come forward when
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: we were scouring asking questions. We had to track them down.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: She said that she had heard pounding on the door,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: she heard arguing, she heard one gun shot, the second
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: gun shot, and scuffling. The detective told me It would
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: have only taken one thing for her to move the
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: blinds and she would have seen what was happening. She
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: was laying on the couch, heard it, she said. The
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: detective said. She went into her husband said was that
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: gun shots? He said yes, and they went to bed.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: He said, Connie, if they had called nine one one,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: it would have completely changed this entire investigation because kind
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: of what we know is they were they were dead
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: about thirty six hours before they were before the nine
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: one one call was called in. But we've also been
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: told that people went back to the apartment prior to
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: the police arriving, So that complicates the situation quite a bit.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: Crime stories with Nancy Grace, you know, I didn't really
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: equit being a hangout place or having a party a
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: couple of days before as being any sort of trouble.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: But I want you to take a listen to this
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: from CWD. When cops arrive at her apartment, it's a
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: chaotic scene of blood and confusing evidence. I mean, you know,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: when I refer to DNA, I mean there's cigarette butts everywhere,
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: and the ash trace full of stuff, There's drink cups everywhere,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: and so you talk about DNA being in the apartment.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: There's there's all kinds of stuff, you know, so who
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: knows what was supposed to be there and what wasn't
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: supposed to be there. Detectives say the couple hung out
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: with a shady cast of characters who regularly partied at
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: Sydney's place. There had been a gathering the night before.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: Cops quickly see surveillance video trained on doorways of the
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: apartment complex. It was of no use. We went and
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: reviewed hours and hours of footage looking. Unfortunately, there was
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: nobody that we identified through the surveillance footage as a
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: person of interest. To Baltimore Post Examiner reporter Doug Papa,
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: joining me, that's hard for me to believe that they've
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: got surveillance video of a party that was held the
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: night before the shootings and they can't make anybody out.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: I know there was surveillance cameras on the it's a
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: gated apartment complex, of the cars going in and out,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: and from what I understand, they reviewed that and they couldn't.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: It didn't lead to anything. But I want to interject
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: something here, nancf I made I spoke to a Las
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: Vegas sitting judge in just Escort. I interviewed her last year.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: She told me that the voice you just heard on
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: that crime Watch daily AT's detective Jared Grimmin. She told
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: me that Detective Grimmat told her three and four weeks
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: after the murder he was releasing all the confidential details
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: to her about the homicide. He told her two convicted
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: felons and the daughter of a retired Las Vegas Metropoulm
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: Police Department police officer were the ones who executed Sidney
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: and Neo. This case is a lot more complex, I
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: think even that you know, and I've been I did
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: several numerous stories on this for the Baltimore Post Examiner. Now,
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: this judge says the reason why Sidney and Neo were
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: murdered because it wasn't supposed to be them. She says,
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: the wrong people were murdered that day. It was supposed
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: to be her and her daughter because she was outed
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: by Las Vegas Metropoum Police Apartment vice detectives who she's
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: been given information to for a year prior to the
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: murder about unlicensed club operated by pimps who were protected
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: by the police because the police were getting payoffs. Now
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: there's been a federal FBI investigation going on in Las
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: Vegas since twenty fourteen, she alleges, and this is a
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: recorded interview with the sitting judge who gave me this information,
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: and I published stories about this. She says that eight
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: hours before the murders happened. She said, the murders happened
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: at twelve thirty in the morning on the morning of
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: the twenty sixth, and I'm assuming that information came from
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: the police who was giving up the information. Eight hours
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: prior to that, her and her daughter are outed by
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: vice detectives to another Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department police
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: officer and his daughter who was an alleged prostitute, and
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: she says that the reason why the murders happened was
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: a direct result of her and her daughter being outed
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: by the vice detectives eight hours prior. Now that bothers
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: me because two things. Number One, this is a sitting judge,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: a Las Vegas Townsenjig, a sitting judge on the court
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: who gave me this hour and a half interview in
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: April of last year, so she's got credibility. And another thing,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: Connie made a complaint against Detective Grimmat for leasing information
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: to judge to Biason, and she says to me on
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: the recording, and I got the recordings and some of
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: them like the snippets of the courtings and some of
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: my stories. She says. Three or four weeks after the murders,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: Detective Grimm was given all the confidential details about Dan
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: evidence and she says that he told her the d
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: in evidence and everything is the three suspects, Like I said,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: there's a Shane Valentine, convicted felon, a Dominique Thompson, a
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: convicted felon both of our pimps, and the daughter of
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: a step daughter excuse me of a now retired Las
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Vegas Metron Police department. She told me on tape several
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: times and an emails that Detective Grimma told her those
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: were the ones that committed the murder. This case is
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: surrounds surrounded by corruption and misconduct. Is this a case
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: I'll mistaken identity and all those murky details, One thing
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: is emerging a potential suspect. Listen and everything looked like
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Saint Valentine may have been our guy and was revenge
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: his motive. Cops say Valentine had a beef with Neo
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: and had taken action before Shane Valentine actually went over
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: to Neio's mother's house, fired around into the window, broke
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: out a couple of windows, and rammed his car into
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: the parking garage store as he threatened to cause harm
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: to Neo and his family. The incident happened three weeks
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: before the murders. Then damning evidence from the bloody night
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: of the shooting surfaces. They could pinions his cell phone
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: in the tower in that area about the time of
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: the murder, and then he was in California the next morning.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: Cops kept an eye on Valentine but couldn't directly link
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: him through DNA to the shootings. Although it appears that
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: he may not have been the shooter, the possibility remains
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: that he was aware of what was going to happen,
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: or what was happened immediately thereafter. I'm stories with Nancy Grace.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: Friends find a gorgeous young couple shot dead inside a
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: Vegas apartment. I'm talking about Nihemiah Neo Kaufman, just twenty
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: in Sydney, Land just twenty one, found dead. They have
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: been living there in the apartment for several months together.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: As of now, no suspects, but our two mystery men involved,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: how were they killed? What could possibly have been the motive?
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: I mean to see grace this it's crime stories. Thank
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: you for being with us. We want answerers take a
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: listen to this from CWD. And everything looked like Sane
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: Valentine may have been our guy and was revenge his motive.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: Cops say Valentine had a beef with Neo and had
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: taken action before Shane. Valentine actually went over to Neo's
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: mother's house, fired around into the window, broke out a
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: couple of windows, and rammed his car into the parking
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: garage door as he threatened to cause harm to Neio
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: and his family. The incident happened three weeks before the murders. Then,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: damning evidence from the bloody night of the shooting surfaces.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: They could pinions his cell phone in the tower in
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: that area about the time of the murder, and then
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: he was in California the next morning. Cops kept an
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: eye on Valentine but couldn't directly link him through DNA
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: to the shootings. Although it appears that he may not
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: have been the shooter, the possibility remains that he was
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: aware of what was going to happen or what was
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: happened immediately thereafter straight out to Connie Land. This is
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: Sydney's mother. Now, to me, if we know for a fact,
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: this guy, Shane Valentine rammed his car into your daughter's
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: place just before the shooting, that does not sound like
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: mistaken identity to me. No, it's not as far as
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: as far as the shooting on October eighth. What's interesting
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: about that cases Shane went over, you know, I guess
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: Shane went over told Neo to come out of the
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: house that he was a dead man. It was eleven
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: thirty in the morning on a Saturday, great weather, and
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: when Shane was one that threatened him when he shot
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: into the house. The problem with this case started before
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: the murders happened, because the day of October eighth, the
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: police and the detectives and the CSAs that were investigating
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: the crime scene, they retrieved the rock that was thrown
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: through the window, They retrieved the plastic from where he
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: ran his car in to the closed garudge door, but
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: they never retrieved the bullet that they knew was shot
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: into the house. It wasn't until after the murders happened.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: When my detective went into evidence to try to match
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: the ballistics, he realized that the bullet from the shooting
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: on October eighth, we're not We're not in evidence. My
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: homicide detective had to go back to the Kaufman home
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: after the homicide three weeks later and retrieved the bullets
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: out of the home but one bullet, two bullets, I'm
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: not sure how many, but the bullets out of the home,
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: and they closed The police department closed the case down
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: my understanding, less than a week after the shooting on
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: October eighth, due to insufficient evidence. I'm not quite sure
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: how that is. They never even treat the bullet too.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: Daryl Cohen, you have prosecuted and defended countless murders. It
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: seems to me there's a clear pattern. I do not
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: think it was mistaken identity, because you've got this one
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: person ramming his car into the home a home, throwing
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: a rock through a window, threatening the boyfriend, Neo Kaufman,
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: and then Neo Kaufman is Sydneyland end up dead. Nancy.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: I don't see this as a mistaken identity. There was
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: absolutely no evidence of forced entry. That tells me everything
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: when you just mentioned the car all the rest of it.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: That tells me they're targeted. And the question becomes why
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: are they targeted and who did the targeting. That's where
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: they need to look. They need to look at everything.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: What type of business were these two young people in,
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: monkey business, straight business or other business there? They've got
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: to expand this investigation not contracted. Take a list to
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: our friends at Katie Invasion All thirteen in Vegas homicide
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: here has gotten so many tips and they're asking for
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: new leads. It's really crazy when people say you just
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: need to move on. More than a year later, Connie Land, undeterred,
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: standing alongside Metro, determined to get justice for her daughter.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: They've messed with the wrong mother. Police notifying the public
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: that Shane Valentine, seen here allegedly trying to break into
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: a home, is no longer a person of interest, currently
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: in custody on a separate case. Police believe he's not
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: involved despite his alleged violent acts against the Kaufman's. Guess
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: what we get to do. We get to go look
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: at other avenues and look at new evidence. The killer
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: or killers believed to have been let inside the apartment.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Dan McGrath saying today Sidney was likely not the target.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: I never thought that she was ever involved in any way.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: A plea for tips once again, so there's closure for
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: a mom and her family too. Daryl Cohen, you have
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: prosecuted and defended countless murders. It seems to me there's
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: a clear pattern. I do not think it was mistaken identity,
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: because you've got this one person ramming his car into
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: the home a home, throwing a rock through a window,
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: threatening the boyfriend, Neo Kaufman, and then Neo Kaufman is
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: sydneyland end up dead? Nancy? I don't see this as
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: a mistaken identity. There was absolutely no evidence of forced entry.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: That tells me everything. When you just mentioned the car
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: all the rest of it, that tells me they're targeted.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: And the question becomes why are they targeted and who
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: did the targeting. That's where they need to look. They
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: need to look at everything. What type of business were
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: these two young people in, monkey business, straight business or
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: other business there? They've got to expand this investigation not contracted.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: You know, when you hear what Sydney's family has been through.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: Take a listen to our friends at Katie Invay, Channel thirteen, Vegas.
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: I am standing under one of the billboards where you
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: can see Sydney's face flash. There's about seven of them
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: across Las Vegas, on the fifteen, two, fifteen, and the
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: ninety five. Now this is not cheap, but her mother
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: says it's necessary to find her daughter's killers. If you
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: live in Las Vegas, you've probably seen her face by
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: now on billboards, as you've likely heard Sydney's story as
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: told by her mother, Connie Land. We've done news articles,
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: we've done press conferences, we've done TV interviews, written articles,
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: you name it. Now they're spending hundreds of dollars a
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: month on these billboards. How long can you continue to
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: pay forty five hundred a month? We just keep working
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: hard and do what we can do. And if it's
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: three billboards and you know, every other month, and that's
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: what we do. Someone had to see something, someone had
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: to hear something. Their friends know who did it? Connie
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: hope someone will come forward with time to Sydney's mother. Connie,
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: you have stood by. You're pumping in about five thousand
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: dollars a month from billboards and everything you can think
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: of to do to solve this case. What have you
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: been through, Nancy, You know better than anybody what we've
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: been through. You can't put into words what this is
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: done to our family, what this is done to my
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: extended family, to my children. There's always first, There will
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: always be first in our family. And you know, we
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: were given a life sentence when Sydney It was killed,
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: and this is something we will have to deal with
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: our entire life. I have chosen to be very proactive
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: in trying to uncover what truly happened and what has
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: gone on in this case, because that's what Sidney would
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: expect of me, is she would expect me to fight,
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: she would expect me to dig, she would expect me
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: to be relentless in trying to get justice for her
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: and and for Nehemiah. I mean, everything that I do
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: is for both of them, and so that's what I
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: get to do, and to me, that's my way of
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: honoring her. That creates a sense of healing for me
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: to know that I'm doing something. You are hearing the
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: voice of Connie Land, that is twenty one year old
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: Sidney Land's mother. Doug Papa, Baltimore Post Examiner still on
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: the case. We wait as justice unfolds. If you have information,
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: please contact Doug pop Up p o p p a
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: at Baltimore Post Examiner. Nancy Grace Crime Stories, signing off,
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: goodbye friend,