Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Handsome Cat Lover, 28, Gunned Down Near UGA Nightspot: WHO KILLED DANIEL?

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Handsome Cat Lover, 28, Gunned Down Near UGA Nightspot: WHO KILLED DANIEL? · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:05
Speaker 1: Crime stories with Nancy Grease, handsome, loving, smart, the apple
0:17
Speaker 1: of his families.
0:18
Speaker 2: I have you heard the name Daniel Messius? Not many
0:25
Speaker 2: people have.
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Speaker 1: Why is his death not being covered? And forget about
0:32
Speaker 1: covering it solved? Who killed this brilliant, wonderful young man.
0:42
Speaker 2: There was actually vineer surveillance in the area. It's very hard.
0:46
Speaker 1: For me to believe that no one knows anything about
0:51
Speaker 1: the death of Daniel Messius.
0:54
Speaker 2: I'm just not buying it.
0:56
Speaker 1: First of all, I want to give you the tip
0:57
Speaker 1: line for zero four two four for twenty six hundred
1:01
Speaker 1: and even better seven zero six seven zero five for
1:08
Speaker 1: seven seven five repeat seven zero six seven zero five
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Speaker 1: for seven seven five. Do you know how I found
1:18
Speaker 1: out about this young man? He's just a few years
1:22
Speaker 1: older than my son John David Lynch. I found it
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Speaker 1: online on Twitter because Daniel was murdered near where Lakin
1:39
Speaker 1: was murdered, near the UGA campus. And while the news
1:45
Speaker 1: had electrified so many in law enforcement and so many
1:51
Speaker 1: legal eagles, I happened to find out about Daniel Massius.
1:59
Speaker 1: Joining me in all start panel to make sense of
2:01
Speaker 1: what we know and figure out why this case has
2:04
Speaker 1: not been solved. But first I want to go to
2:09
Speaker 1: a co worker of Daniel's, Aaron Lahey, who worked diligently
2:14
Speaker 1: to help get answers.
2:16
Speaker 2: Aaron, thank you for being with us.
2:18
Speaker 1: I don't know that I would ever have known about
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Speaker 1: Daniel Messias being killed if it hadn't.
2:24
Speaker 2: Been for you.
2:25
Speaker 3: You.
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Speaker 4: Thank you for having me. I've been told to have
2:28
Speaker 4: a big mouth, and I have always told Daniel's family
2:32
Speaker 4: and Daniel's mother that I will not stop seeing Daniel's name.
2:37
Speaker 4: It unfortunately has not gotten the coverage that other cases
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Speaker 4: have his murder and it's been.
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Speaker 3: Important to me.
2:47
Speaker 4: And when it first happened, I think his family and
2:50
Speaker 4: I felt like we're gonna cut flyers out, We're gonna
2:53
Speaker 4: get the word out and within two weeks we're going
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Speaker 4: to see who did it and we can get justice.
2:59
Speaker 4: But unfortunately that hasn't been the case. You know, all
3:06
Speaker 4: I know to do is to, you know, say his
3:09
Speaker 4: name whenever I can, and you know, hope. I know
3:13
Speaker 4: that the Athens Park County Police Department has had a
3:17
Speaker 4: lot of turnover, so we've had a lot of different investigators.
3:22
Speaker 4: I have been working with the family because I live
3:24
Speaker 4: in Athens they do not, but it's been difficult I
3:29
Speaker 4: think because it's been passed around and you know, we
3:32
Speaker 4: still want to know why.
3:34
Speaker 2: Guys, you're hearing Aaron Lahey.
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Speaker 1: If it hadn't been for her going on Twitter when
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Speaker 1: we were all trying to solve the lake In murderer,
3:42
Speaker 1: I would never have even known about Daniel Masius. But first,
3:47
Speaker 1: let's go to Alexis Tereschuk joining me crime online dot
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Speaker 1: Com investigative reporter who coincidentally went to attended UGA. Alexis,
3:57
Speaker 1: thank you for being with us. You know what strung
4:00
Speaker 1: me about this case to start with is that Daniel
4:04
Speaker 1: loved going to hear music. And there's a music row
4:09
Speaker 1: as I understand it, and in this case I know
4:12
Speaker 1: in fact, I think you've met my nephew, Dan, who
4:17
Speaker 1: honor student at UGA. When he graduated, he went and
4:22
Speaker 1: worked in connection related to homeland security.
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Speaker 2: Just brilliant.
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Speaker 1: But he is a teetotaler like myself, and he would
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Speaker 1: always go up and down music row because he, you know,
4:37
Speaker 1: is a musician to hear the music. And that's the
4:41
Speaker 1: way Daniel Missius was too. He loved music, and I'm wondering,
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Speaker 1: Alexis if he had been going up and down I
4:48
Speaker 1: call it music row. But you know what, you're the reporter.
4:52
Speaker 1: You tell me, tell me about Daniel Massius.
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Speaker 5: So, Daniel Mssius. He went to the University of Georgia.
4:58
Speaker 5: He graduated from there, and he decided he loved Athens.
5:01
Speaker 5: Athens is a great town and it is known for
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Speaker 5: its music. It is it's a college town. It's not
5:07
Speaker 5: that big. Everybody kind of knows each other. There's a
5:10
Speaker 5: lot to do. Lots of restaurants in downtown where he
5:14
Speaker 5: was does have bars that have music. You know, even
5:17
Speaker 5: the famous band Arim is from Athens back in my day.
5:22
Speaker 5: But he so, he was out at a bar, nineties
5:25
Speaker 5: bar downtown. It is literally three blocks away from the
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Speaker 5: entrance the arch to the main old part of campus
5:34
Speaker 5: where the University of Georgia. So he was at a
5:36
Speaker 5: bar enjoying music and the bars closed it two o'clock
5:40
Speaker 5: in Athens. So he left the bar at about two
5:43
Speaker 5: thirty in the morning on a Saturday night, Sunday morning.
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Speaker 5: Not that late. Everyone leaves the bars at that time.
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Speaker 5: It wasn't you know a time when he was the
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Speaker 5: only person that would have been leaving a bar, walked
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Speaker 5: to his car, which he parked literally next to like
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Speaker 5: the police that there's a jail there and the prisoners
6:03
Speaker 5: will get transported through there. And it's also next to
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Speaker 5: a courthouse. All of these places are public property. So
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Speaker 5: he and it is very well lit, and he walks down,
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Speaker 5: walks to his car, and that is where he was murdered.
6:20
Speaker 1: Okay, this is what else we've Lauren, take a listen
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Speaker 1: to Rachel Bania at crime Online.
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Speaker 6: Daniel Messias is heading towards his car park near the courthouse.
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Speaker 6: When he rounds a corner, He's shot five times at
6:33
Speaker 6: close range. Daniel Messias collapses in a bed of landscaping mulch.
6:38
Speaker 6: Someone calls nine to one one. When two men chase
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Speaker 6: the gunmen. They walk briskly behind him at first, but
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Speaker 6: he picks up the pace and is able to outrun
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Speaker 6: the two inebriated men. Police on foot and on bikes
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Speaker 6: canvas the area all night, knocking on doors, looking in
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Speaker 6: the woods, but the gunman is gone.
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Speaker 1: It's amazing to me that if two, not only one
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Speaker 1: is called immediately according to Rachel Nia, and two guys.
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Speaker 1: The other two guys chase the gunman. They start walking
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Speaker 1: briskly and as he picks up his pace, he outruns them.
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Speaker 1: Police on foot and on bike's Canvassy area all night,
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Speaker 1: but the gunman is gone.
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Speaker 2: I don't think he was gone.
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Speaker 1: I think he ducked into a bar or an all
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Speaker 1: night fast food restaurant, he ducked into something, or did
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Speaker 1: he duck into a car and take off. Another thing
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Speaker 1: that's really striking me is the fact.
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Speaker 2: That he was shot.
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Speaker 1: Daniel Macia was shot five times. Alexis Terreschak. There was
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Speaker 1: no robbery that we know of, and no sex attack.
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Speaker 1: So what is the motive of shooting the victim five times?
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Speaker 2: Did I get that correct? Alexis? He was shot times.
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Speaker 5: Five times in close range. It wasn't from what I
8:05
Speaker 5: understandably have not really identified. They found shell casings at
8:09
Speaker 5: the scene, but it wasn't like it was a steami
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Speaker 5: automatic rifle that could fire, you know, multiple very very quickly.
8:15
Speaker 5: But he was shot five times at closers, just by
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Speaker 5: one person, because that's what the eyewitness that said that
8:20
Speaker 5: they followed that he the person. The man followed him
8:25
Speaker 5: and he was dressed in all black and then was
8:30
Speaker 5: very very close to him when they when he shot him.
8:32
Speaker 5: To hit somebody five times, you have to be very
8:35
Speaker 5: close or you are very good name from very far away.
8:37
Speaker 5: But this person was incredibly close, like right up, so
8:40
Speaker 5: it makes it seem like it was very personal, it
8:42
Speaker 5: was targeted. It wasn't.
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Speaker 3: And the police have said this.
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Speaker 5: If it was a simple robbery, you know, two thirty
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Speaker 5: in the morning, Hey give me your wallet, give me
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Speaker 5: your phone, give me all your money, you would shoot somebody,
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Speaker 5: maybe one time to give it to them, and then
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Speaker 5: you would take their stuff and run away. This was
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Speaker 5: five times to make sure that he was dead.
9:00
Speaker 2: Joining you right now.
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Speaker 1: In addition to Christy Romer, relative of Daniels, Mark Maleague
9:09
Speaker 1: is with us the original detective on this case, former
9:15
Speaker 1: Athens Clark County PD, currently law enforcement technology software consultant
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Speaker 1: Martin Lillie. Thank you for being with us and giving
9:23
Speaker 1: us some insight, because with what we know, I'm not
9:27
Speaker 1: saying the cops.
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Speaker 2: Did anything wrong at all.
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Speaker 1: They raise to the scene, they go door to door,
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Speaker 1: they're canvassing the area trying to find this guy.
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Speaker 2: Tell me what happened from your perspective, Mark.
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Speaker 7: Yes, thanks for having me me and t You know
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Speaker 7: you mentioned how this guy ran away from the scene,
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Speaker 7: and that is the case with a couple of witnesses
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Speaker 7: in tow that were chasing him. Unfortunately, he was actually
9:55
Speaker 7: running away from downtown, so leaving the downtown area.
10:00
Speaker 1: Uh.
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Speaker 7: And it's and it's right on the outskirts of where
10:03
Speaker 7: the bar scene is. And even though it was the
10:07
Speaker 7: time of night when the bars were litting out and
10:09
Speaker 7: ors literally groups and masses of uh you know, partygoers
10:14
Speaker 7: that were walking home. Because this was just outside of
10:17
Speaker 7: that area, a lot of people were even unaware that
10:20
Speaker 7: it occurred. Even people in the immense immediate vicinity did
10:24
Speaker 7: not realize that that was gunfire, that was that was happening. Uh,
10:29
Speaker 7: just you know, a block away from them. But as
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Speaker 7: he ran outside of downtown, uh you know, really it
10:36
Speaker 7: kind of leaves the limelight of the downtown scene. And
10:40
Speaker 7: and that's exactly right. He kind of even though he
10:43
Speaker 7: was being chased, Uh, he had a little bit of
10:45
Speaker 7: a lead on those witnesses and he was able to
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Speaker 7: slip away from them.
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Speaker 1: Uh.
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Speaker 7: And and ultimately, you're exactly right, even though police were
10:54
Speaker 7: were in the area immediately following h immediately following the shooting,
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Speaker 7: there was police officers on bike that were literally a
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Speaker 7: block block and a half away when the shooting occurred,
11:07
Speaker 7: and they were literally probably sixty to ninety seconds behind
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Speaker 7: where the shooter had run to, but being so late
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Speaker 7: at night, Wooden, there's a wooded area down on that
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Speaker 7: side of downtown. There's multiple apartment complexes, plus there's groups
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Speaker 7: of people who are walking outside of downtown.
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Speaker 8: You're exactly right.
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Speaker 7: He was able to simply slip away or to slip
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Speaker 7: in somewhere, And even though we searched the remainder of
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Speaker 7: the night and in the days afterwards, that's exactly right.
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Speaker 7: He just kind of just kind of up and vanished
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Speaker 7: in place amongst the surroundings, and that's kind of how
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Speaker 7: that happened.
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Speaker 1: Well, a few things I want to ask you, Martin
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Speaker 1: League is joining us original detective on this case.
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Speaker 2: There is a.
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Speaker 1: Very very heavy police presence in that area. Fact, anywhere
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Speaker 1: you look, you're going to see either a UGA cop,
12:05
Speaker 1: you know, campus cop, you're going to see Athens police.
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Speaker 2: They're everywhere, and.
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Speaker 1: That is why the crime rate is really low in
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Speaker 1: that area, which also makes this the aberration. There are
12:20
Speaker 1: very few homicides around UGA. So I'm thinking about the
12:26
Speaker 1: fact that there was such a heavy police presence, but
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Speaker 1: he's still got away. And also something you said, Martin Maleague,
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Speaker 1: and it reminds me.
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Speaker 2: Just a few months.
12:35
Speaker 1: Ago, Natalie Holloway's mother, Beth Twitty, and I and Cheryl
12:42
Speaker 1: McCollum went to Aruba to retrace steps see what we
12:46
Speaker 1: could dig up at this juncture, you know, Mark, You
12:50
Speaker 1: pull up and Aruba looks like an island paradise, But
12:54
Speaker 1: when you go past the first facade of buildings, it's
13:00
Speaker 1: like cracktown. They're burned out homes, their vacant buildings. In fact,
13:09
Speaker 1: one of the local residents told me that right before
13:13
Speaker 1: we had gotten there, that palm trees don't grow naturally,
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Speaker 1: that they bring in palm trees and put them up
13:20
Speaker 1: for tourists to see to make it like a tropical island,
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Speaker 1: and one of them had actually fallen on a tourist
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Speaker 1: and killed them because it wasn't deeply enough rooted into
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Speaker 1: the ground. My point is, you're saying that if you
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Speaker 1: go a very short distance in the direction the killer went,
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Speaker 1: you are no longer in the limelight, in the street
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Speaker 1: lamps where all the people are.
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Speaker 2: You're out in the woods. Is that right?
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Speaker 7: Well, I wouldn't say that you're in the woods, however,
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Speaker 7: you are outside of the main that you were going
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Speaker 7: to as music grow and where your main NIGHTLFE is
13:58
Speaker 7: that you're exactly right. You're just a block or two
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Speaker 7: off of that main strip, which which just doesn't have
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Speaker 7: the people the places. You know, you're you're getting outside
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Speaker 7: of that main area, and so it's not it's not
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Speaker 7: that it's not lit or that there's not people around,
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Speaker 7: it's just it's not the same. You know, you get
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Speaker 7: a block or two away, there's just less people, there's
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Speaker 7: less businesses, there's less.
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Speaker 1: Going on, and it's easier to slip into the darkness
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Speaker 1: and not get caught. Joining me right now, Darryl Cohen,
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Speaker 1: high profile lawyer, former felony prosecutor, now defense attorney.
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Speaker 2: Darryl, thank you for being with us. You have handled
14:36
Speaker 2: a lot of.
14:38
Speaker 1: How do I say, movie, TV, entertainment legal cases is
14:44
Speaker 1: one of your specialties. Have you ever seen a movie set? Now,
14:48
Speaker 1: on one side it looks all bright and shining, you
14:50
Speaker 1: go behind it, it's crap.
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Speaker 8: Every sound stage, every set looks great from the fault
14:57
Speaker 8: and to you scratch it and go behind it and
14:59
Speaker 8: go the get or workings, and then what you see
15:04
Speaker 8: and what you get as it happens, that is complete.
15:09
Speaker 8: The fact is not as good as the pract it's
15:11
Speaker 8: not as visibly appealing as.
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Speaker 1: So, just trying to figure out how this guy, the
15:17
Speaker 1: killer got away.
15:19
Speaker 2: Joining me right now?
15:20
Speaker 1: Is Christy Romer joining us out of Jasper, Georgia connected
15:24
Speaker 1: to the family, Christy, thank you for being with us.
15:27
Speaker 2: You recall I'm sure when Daniel was killed? Correct?
15:31
Speaker 9: Yeah?
15:31
Speaker 3: Correct?
15:31
Speaker 1: How did you guys find out? What can you tell
15:34
Speaker 1: me about Daniel? Because this was targeted, I'm sure of it.
15:37
Speaker 3: Yes, that's the way. That's the way we feel as well,
15:40
Speaker 3: that's the way we we've always felt. So we all
15:44
Speaker 3: live in different areas. His father lives in North Carolina
15:49
Speaker 3: and his mother lives in Jasper, and his siblings are
15:53
Speaker 3: in different areas as well, one in North Carolina and
15:56
Speaker 3: two others in Georgia. So their father got to call
16:01
Speaker 3: first and Russ Massias he's in North Carolina. Then he
16:07
Speaker 3: then called Daniel's sister, Erica, and Erica called Tasha, his
16:12
Speaker 3: other sister, and from there we had to go and
16:16
Speaker 3: tell his mother. So we went to his mother's house
16:19
Speaker 3: and told her, which was probably one of the most
16:23
Speaker 3: horrible things I've ever had to do in my entire life.
16:26
Speaker 3: Tell the mother because her first words were, where is
16:31
Speaker 3: the Can we go to him? Like, is he gonna
16:34
Speaker 3: be okay? We when when when we told her that
16:39
Speaker 3: he was not okay. I'll probably never get that scream
16:45
Speaker 3: out of my head.
16:46
Speaker 4: Ever.
16:48
Speaker 3: It's pretty bad, pretty horrible. So it just that's how
16:54
Speaker 3: that's how we we all found out. But I just
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Speaker 3: I don't know if I cannot but to go back
17:02
Speaker 3: to him rounding the corner. He actually didn't round that corner.
17:08
Speaker 3: He actually walked the long way and came straight ahead,
17:15
Speaker 3: straight toward that man they met, So he was walking
17:18
Speaker 3: straight toward him. He didn't just come around the corner
17:21
Speaker 3: and see him. We thought that at first. So he
17:24
Speaker 3: walked straight toward him.
17:25
Speaker 1: Okay, hold up, who walked straight toward who? The killer
17:29
Speaker 1: walked straight toward Daniel Masseius.
17:31
Speaker 3: They were walking toward each other, and they met right
17:34
Speaker 3: at that corner. Daniel's car was right across the street
17:39
Speaker 3: from that corner, so he never actually made it to
17:41
Speaker 3: his car. It was right across the street where he
17:46
Speaker 3: was shot.
17:47
Speaker 1: Now, on the night that Daniel Massees was killed, I
17:52
Speaker 1: understand that he had been working his shift at a
17:56
Speaker 1: local restaurant and after working he went to the store
18:01
Speaker 1: across the street, and then he got a phone call
18:04
Speaker 1: from someone, and he had bought a beer in a store,
18:09
Speaker 1: he got a phone call, he put the beer down
18:13
Speaker 1: and walked out. Is that correct, Christy Romer.
18:16
Speaker 3: Yes, that's correct.
18:17
Speaker 1: Okay, So do you believe whoever called him asked him
18:22
Speaker 1: to meet them? Seems that way, But we know the
18:25
Speaker 1: person that called him never went to the area and
18:28
Speaker 1: met him. Wasn't that His friend Sean called him and said, hey,
18:32
Speaker 1: meet me. But then Sean had what wasn't a headlight
18:35
Speaker 1: missing and he couldn't leave.
18:37
Speaker 3: Yes, headlight was out, he didn't want to leave.
18:40
Speaker 1: Then who was Daniel speaking to for seven straight minutes as.
18:45
Speaker 2: He was walking?
18:46
Speaker 3: That was Sean.
18:47
Speaker 2: You know what I was.
18:47
Speaker 1: Hoping, Alexis Tereschuk. I was hoping that whoever he was
18:53
Speaker 1: talking to was the shooter and that we could just
18:58
Speaker 1: look at Daniel's cell phone answers.
19:00
Speaker 2: But that's not the case.
19:01
Speaker 5: No, that hasn't been connected at all. And in fact,
19:05
Speaker 5: you know, the police released a video of the shooter.
19:08
Speaker 5: There were surveillance videos, so they released it very quickly
19:11
Speaker 5: after he was killed, hoping that anybody could recognize him
19:16
Speaker 5: come by they did not. They did not have anybody.
19:19
Speaker 5: They obviously received tips, but nothing that has led to
19:22
Speaker 5: an arrest. But they did not connect the phone call
19:26
Speaker 5: with the shooter. At least they have not shared that
19:28
Speaker 5: information publicly.
19:42
Speaker 1: Prime Stories with Nancy Grace.
19:45
Speaker 2: I want to talk about the video. I'm looking at
19:47
Speaker 2: it right now.
19:49
Speaker 1: To you, Mark Maleague joining us original detective on the case.
19:54
Speaker 1: What can you tell me about what could be gleaned.
19:57
Speaker 1: I'm looking at the video. It's pretty good video. And
20:00
Speaker 1: I noticed the video was panning back and forth. Where
20:04
Speaker 1: did I see him walking?
20:06
Speaker 2: Right now? Where does the video come from? It looks
20:09
Speaker 2: like security surveillance.
20:11
Speaker 7: So downtown Athens has an entire system of video cameras
20:17
Speaker 7: on various intersections. That's just one of many cameras that
20:21
Speaker 7: are downtown for safety features and things of that nature.
20:25
Speaker 7: And they are on pre programmed panning, you know, to
20:29
Speaker 7: pan certain areas or certain streets, and they are constantly
20:34
Speaker 7: recording twenty four hours to day.
20:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm saying it's really good video, but I think
20:38
Speaker 1: it's panning. And I see Daniel with Silla walking. Am
20:42
Speaker 1: I saying Daniel or am I saying the shooter?
20:45
Speaker 2: No, that's you.
20:47
Speaker 7: Most Yeah, we believe that that person either might have
20:52
Speaker 7: some information or could be the suspect himself. That is
20:57
Speaker 7: the one individual that was in the immediate sentity and
21:02
Speaker 7: just leading up to the shooting. And then we have
21:05
Speaker 7: some other videos as well. That's just the one we
21:07
Speaker 7: put out to the public.
21:08
Speaker 1: Guys, I'm looking at the video trying to determine what
21:11
Speaker 1: I can from it. Mark Moleague, can you tell is
21:15
Speaker 1: the guy white? Is he black? Is he hispanic? Can
21:19
Speaker 1: we figure out how tall he is compared to the
21:23
Speaker 1: lamppost beside him.
21:24
Speaker 2: He's got on black pants and black shirt T shirt.
21:29
Speaker 1: It looks to me like he held up one arm
21:31
Speaker 1: right as the camera panned away.
21:33
Speaker 2: Well, can you tell me about this guy?
21:35
Speaker 7: Well, I can't tell you that what you see in
21:38
Speaker 7: the video is consistent with the eyewitnesses to this incident,
21:43
Speaker 7: because there were several eyewitnesses that were just across the
21:47
Speaker 7: street closer to where Daniel's car was parked, who observed
21:52
Speaker 7: the individual and also described him just as what you're
21:55
Speaker 7: seeing in that video, And so they described him as
21:59
Speaker 7: be white or light skinned, possibly if it was mixed,
22:03
Speaker 7: it was light skinned. And so that's what we have
22:07
Speaker 7: to go on and of course with that description, I
22:10
Speaker 7: believe that individual in the video matches that as to
22:15
Speaker 7: what they were what they witnessed.
22:17
Speaker 1: Joining me is doctor Chloe Carmichael, clinical psychologists and USA
22:21
Speaker 1: Today best selling author of Nervous Energy Harness The Power
22:25
Speaker 1: of Your Anxiety, Doctor Chloe.
22:27
Speaker 2: I'm looking at.
22:27
Speaker 1: This video and I don't know if the video is
22:30
Speaker 1: ever going to help us find the killer.
22:33
Speaker 2: But let's think about the killer.
22:37
Speaker 1: Time is past, don't you know he's had to have
22:41
Speaker 1: told somebody that he didn't.
22:45
Speaker 10: Yes, Nancy, I would agree. It would be almost impossible
22:48
Speaker 10: for someone to keep something like this to themselves, especially
22:52
Speaker 10: because he did this in such a very bold and
22:55
Speaker 10: public way. It's almost as if he wanted to make
22:59
Speaker 10: a DECI blay of power, and people like that don't
23:03
Speaker 10: typically just want to keep it to themselves. So I
23:06
Speaker 10: do hope that somebody out there listening may know something
23:10
Speaker 10: and come forward.
23:11
Speaker 1: You know, Christy Roemer, I'm looking at a picture of
23:15
Speaker 1: Daniel let's see you right now, and he has the
23:19
Speaker 1: most beautiful smile. He's been called a gentle giant with
23:26
Speaker 1: a booming laugh, a contagious smile, an incredible sense of
23:31
Speaker 1: humor at six five, two hundred and thirty pounds.
23:36
Speaker 2: My son is six ' five.
23:39
Speaker 10: You know what.
23:39
Speaker 1: He was unarmed and the purp had a gun. And
23:43
Speaker 1: makes a big man little and a little man big
23:47
Speaker 1: when one guy has a gun and the other one
23:50
Speaker 1: doesn't tell me what you can tell us about Daniel.
23:55
Speaker 2: His personality.
23:57
Speaker 3: I've never met anybody that didn't out spletely love him.
24:01
Speaker 3: Everybody that was friends with him, everybody a strangers even
24:08
Speaker 3: he never met a stranger. He loved everybody. He adored
24:13
Speaker 3: his family, his siblings, his parents, he adored his friends.
24:18
Speaker 3: He just he was an extrovert.
24:21
Speaker 4: He was.
24:23
Speaker 3: He had a very big personality, and he was very
24:28
Speaker 3: loved by everyone. I don't think I've never heard anybody
24:32
Speaker 3: speak negatively of him ever.
24:33
Speaker 1: You know, I've looked and looked and looked, and I
24:36
Speaker 1: haven't found any of a criminal history on him, nothing
24:41
Speaker 1: of the sort that would suggest to me he has
24:43
Speaker 1: any type of an enemy. This guy is not dealing dope.
24:47
Speaker 1: This guy is not on the take. This guy is
24:50
Speaker 1: not involved in anything nefarious nothing. He works at a restaurant,
24:57
Speaker 1: just att u GA campus. He's with units all day
25:01
Speaker 1: every day. Who would want to kill this guy? There
25:05
Speaker 1: is an eleven thousand dollar reward put up by the
25:10
Speaker 1: family and by crime stoppers. If you have information, please
25:14
Speaker 1: dial seven sixty two four hundred seven zero six ' one. Guys,
25:20
Speaker 1: the shooting death of Daniel Massias has.
25:25
Speaker 2: Gone largely ignored. Why because you know what I see?
25:30
Speaker 1: I see a picture of his mother holding her son's photograph.
25:36
Speaker 1: Think about it, that's all she's got. And you've got
25:39
Speaker 1: Christy Roemer with her. The screams from his mother still
25:45
Speaker 1: ringing in her ears. You know what hold on with
25:48
Speaker 1: the surveillance and his personality. I want to talk to
25:51
Speaker 1: doctor Jen Gorniac for a little reality check. Doctor Gorniac,
25:56
Speaker 1: renowned forensic pathologist, former medical examiner, Clark County.
26:02
Speaker 2: That's Vegas.
26:04
Speaker 1: Athens is also Clark County, but in Vegas, unlike Athens,
26:10
Speaker 1: there's never a lot of business at the Morgue. Doctor Gorniac,
26:15
Speaker 1: thank you for taking your time to be with us
26:17
Speaker 1: and help us solve Daniel Mercia's murder.
26:21
Speaker 2: A brutal murder.
26:23
Speaker 1: I'm just thinking about that lonely sidewalk all by himself
26:28
Speaker 1: and he bleeds out right there. What did he endure?
26:33
Speaker 1: Five gunshot wounds?
26:35
Speaker 11: He was shot those five times that obviously vital organs
26:39
Speaker 11: were struck, whether it's in the head or the chest
26:42
Speaker 11: where the brain is injured, the heart, the lungs, the liver,
26:47
Speaker 11: and like you said, he would bleed out, he would
26:49
Speaker 11: hemorrhage until depending on where those shots were. Unfortunately, he't
26:56
Speaker 11: wouldn't have died right away. He would have bled out
27:00
Speaker 11: out and then gone into shock. So there would have
27:03
Speaker 11: been a period of survival short but a period of survival, unfortunately.
27:08
Speaker 11: And you know he said he's there alone, and you
27:12
Speaker 11: know when they're to call nine one one to get
27:14
Speaker 11: him to the hospital and maybe save his life.
27:17
Speaker 1: To Aaron Lahy joining us, former coworker and friend of
27:21
Speaker 1: Daniel Messillas, what do you know about his particular wounds.
27:26
Speaker 4: My understanding is that they were all to his chest.
27:30
Speaker 4: He was a very tall guy, as as you mentioned,
27:33
Speaker 4: and you know people called him a gental giant. My
27:36
Speaker 4: understanding is that they were all to his chest, and
27:41
Speaker 4: that he actually called out. I don't know that I
27:45
Speaker 4: should say the phrase either right before the first shot
27:49
Speaker 4: or right after the first shot.
27:51
Speaker 2: He called out to say, what.
27:53
Speaker 4: Oh an expertive that that witnesses to report it. I
28:00
Speaker 4: think Mark might be able to help more with.
28:03
Speaker 2: That, Martin League. Did Daniel say anything just before he
28:07
Speaker 2: was shot?
28:08
Speaker 7: According to the witnesses, there was definitely a confrontation that
28:12
Speaker 7: was very very brief that, like she was saying, there
28:16
Speaker 7: was an explotive and then immediately that led into gunfire.
28:22
Speaker 7: Because when Daniel crossed the street as he was walking,
28:25
Speaker 7: he encountered this individual almost immediately at this particular street corner.
28:31
Speaker 7: There was not some drawn out conversation or something that
28:35
Speaker 7: occurred between the two that would have led to this.
28:38
Speaker 7: It was literally walking meeting face to face. There was
28:41
Speaker 7: an exploitive and then there was the shooting.
28:43
Speaker 2: I understand the shooting was a close range.
28:46
Speaker 7: Mark, yes, that it is definitely, you know, face to
28:50
Speaker 7: face with one another.
28:51
Speaker 2: What does that tell you, Mark?
28:53
Speaker 7: You know, the scene definitely indicates that or would suggest
28:59
Speaker 7: that it was something personal or that they were familiar
29:02
Speaker 7: with one another. And the only reason I say that
29:05
Speaker 7: is because there wasn't anything that led up to this.
29:08
Speaker 7: It was so abrupt with the two individuals meetings, So
29:13
Speaker 7: you know, the way that we see the scene and
29:17
Speaker 7: analyze that, that's exactly what it would suggest.
29:32
Speaker 1: Crime stories with Nancy Grace, what led up to the
29:38
Speaker 1: phone call and the shootings take a Listen to Dave
29:40
Speaker 1: matt Crime Online.
29:41
Speaker 9: Daniel Messias enjoys the downtown Athens night life scene, but
29:45
Speaker 9: on Saturday, August thirteenth, he forgoes a night on the town.
29:48
Speaker 9: He leaves his job at a local restaurant, crossing the
29:51
Speaker 9: street to a store inside, he gets a phone call,
29:54
Speaker 9: sets his purchase items down, and walks out. Messius continues
29:58
Speaker 9: the conversation as he walks to his car. The call
30:01
Speaker 9: last seven minutes. As the phone call with Messius n's
30:05
Speaker 9: the sound of five gunshots rings out.
30:08
Speaker 2: Question to you, Martin.
30:09
Speaker 1: League, the original detective on the case, did the car
30:13
Speaker 1: sean hear the gunfire?
30:16
Speaker 2: Or had he already hung up?
30:17
Speaker 7: So they had hung up because they were on the
30:21
Speaker 7: phone together as Daniel was walking downtown. But I think
30:26
Speaker 7: Daniel essentially put him on hold or said hang on
30:30
Speaker 7: just a second and hung up the phone. And that's
30:32
Speaker 7: when he encountered this individual.
30:34
Speaker 1: So he saw the guy coming up on him. Okay,
30:37
Speaker 1: this is what else we know.
30:40
Speaker 2: Listen.
30:40
Speaker 12: On August the thirteenth, at approximately two thirty seven am,
30:44
Speaker 12: Daniel Massius was murdered in Athens, Georgia, at the corner
30:48
Speaker 12: of East Hancock Avenue and Jackson Street Athens. Cark County
30:52
Speaker 12: Police Department investigators are reviewing hundreds of hours of security
30:56
Speaker 12: camera video footage that they have collected in the course
30:59
Speaker 12: of their investigation. Investigators would like to speak with the
31:03
Speaker 12: individual that is depicted in the snippet of video footage.
31:07
Speaker 12: It appears to be a white male dressed in all black.
31:10
Speaker 12: This person may have witnessed details that are important to investigators.
31:15
Speaker 12: If you are this individual, or if you can help
31:17
Speaker 12: identify this individual, call the Crime Stoppers Anonymous tip line
31:21
Speaker 12: at seven zero six, seven zero five for seven seventy five.
31:27
Speaker 10: You know, listening to Mark talk about, you know, kind
31:29
Speaker 10: of the cold blooded, methodical attitude of the shooter, you know,
31:34
Speaker 10: have people explored the possibility that the shooter was a
31:37
Speaker 10: hired hired gun as opposed to, you know, personally having
31:42
Speaker 10: a vendetta.
31:43
Speaker 3: Can I speak on that, because that's what this is, Christy,
31:47
Speaker 3: That's the theory that the family and I have have
31:51
Speaker 3: fought and brought to the attention of the police before
31:57
Speaker 3: in the past, because I feel like we feel like
32:02
Speaker 3: that this person was there to do it like he
32:07
Speaker 3: was he was it was planned like he was there
32:14
Speaker 3: was a meeting set up at that time, or like
32:17
Speaker 3: I think this may have been. Daniel may have even
32:20
Speaker 3: known this person or had met this person previously. I
32:25
Speaker 3: don't think that he was afraid of this guy because
32:30
Speaker 3: he walked right up to him. I do think the
32:33
Speaker 3: guy was probably a hired hit.
32:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I was.
32:37
Speaker 10: Just thinking, because there seemed to be such a methodical,
32:40
Speaker 10: unemotional Yeah, you know, I hate to say the word,
32:44
Speaker 10: but efficient approach to this shooting.
32:47
Speaker 3: Correct as if it was. Yes, not the first time,
32:51
Speaker 3: and he had he did his job, and he left.
32:54
Speaker 1: Mark Maleague is with us, the original detective on this case.
33:01
Speaker 7: Mark, you know, the only comment that I have on
33:05
Speaker 7: that is that we don't we don't have any any
33:09
Speaker 7: information that would indicate that. Not to say that that's
33:14
Speaker 7: not a theory. It definitely is a theory, but we
33:17
Speaker 7: don't have any evidence or information that would lead us
33:22
Speaker 7: down that path, or at least we didn't at that time.
33:24
Speaker 7: Now it's been quite some time since I retired from
33:27
Speaker 7: the department, almost three years ago, so I don't know
33:30
Speaker 7: what information has come in since then. But you know,
33:34
Speaker 7: it's it's it's tough to say the scene definitely suggests
33:40
Speaker 7: something and we're trying to put that together. And I
33:44
Speaker 7: will echo what was said earlier is that what we're
33:47
Speaker 7: really missing is that that one person or individuals that
33:52
Speaker 7: know about this, that that the shooter or the killer
33:56
Speaker 7: has spoken to, has confessed to, or has fighted in
34:01
Speaker 7: that person where definitely is the individual or wanting to
34:06
Speaker 7: come forward, And it's kind of a missing piece of
34:08
Speaker 7: this puzzle.
34:09
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I just wanted to clarify it. In
34:12
Speaker 4: regards to the phone call with Sean, he had talked
34:15
Speaker 4: with Daniel when Daniel was in the store, and he
34:20
Speaker 4: asked Daniel to meet him downtown. Daniel did go downtown
34:24
Speaker 4: and was downtown, but then he spoke with Sean again
34:28
Speaker 4: when he was walking to his car.
34:30
Speaker 3: I believe it was a.
34:31
Speaker 4: Seven minute call. He was on the phone with Sean,
34:37
Speaker 4: and we don't know that he actually said goodbye. They
34:40
Speaker 4: got disconnected, but Sean never called back.
34:43
Speaker 1: How can a vibrant, happy young man in the prime
34:48
Speaker 1: of his life begunned down on a public street and
34:53
Speaker 1: the case is forgotten or it feels forgotten. We want
35:00
Speaker 1: justice for Daniel's mother, We want answers for his family.
35:08
Speaker 1: Daniel is never going to rest in peace until we
35:13
Speaker 1: get justice. There is an eleven thousand dollars reward for
35:21
Speaker 1: information on this case. Tip line seven zero six seven
35:28
Speaker 1: oh five for seven seven five, Goodbye, fin