Latest / NO FILTER / Father who shot daughter to death claims he thought she was an intruder(MP3_160K)

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Father who shot daughter to death claims he thought she was an intruder(MP3_160K) · NO FILTER

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: I'm Chris Hansen right now on Crimewatch Daily from here
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: in New York City. Chilling surveillance video, a father of
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: four hears an intruder at his door and approaches with
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: his loaded gun.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: The gun was in my hand and they had just
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: went out.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: To his horror, that intruder turns out to be his
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: beautiful eleven year old daughter, just home from the first.
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: Day of school.
• 0:30
  Speaker 4: She said, Daddy, I know it was an accident. Daddy,
• 0:32
  Speaker 4: I'm not mad at you.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: That's haunted today the controversial trial of Timothy Vack.
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: Should he go to jail for his deadly mistake?
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: What happened with him could happen to anyone.
• 0:42
  Speaker 5: I wanted him to be accountable for his rankness, but how.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Your then an honor student mysteriously vanishes on her sixteenth birthday.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: But she's not alone. Her stepfather's gone too, leaving her
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: mother frantic with fear.
• 0:59
  Speaker 6: It may be to this than just a simple missing person.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: They're missing white truck, abandoned in all out air search,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: and then an unbelievable discovery.
• 1:09
  Speaker 6: We were extremely shocked.
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: Are you serious right now?
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: So let's go Jasontower with Prime Watch Daily.
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: I'm miss also going to from Crimewatch Dailey, Yes, let's
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: be smart from Crimewatch Daily.
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: It's Ana Garcia.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: From crime Watch Daily.
• 1:23
  Speaker 7: You got anything to say?
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: She is crime Watch Daily.
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: What do you mean you don't know?
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: If she's thirteen? You're running away?
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: Now?
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Hello everyone, Welcome to crime Watch Daily. I'm Chris Hansen.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: We start today with a controversial shooting in Tennessee. A
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: sixth grade girl gets off the school bus and heads
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: home where she's gunned down and who pulled the trigger.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: Would make it a headline Grabbing cakes now next fair year.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: A precious eleven year old girl, full of personality.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: Full of life, amy Ah, you like to make but
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: tragically her life would soon be cut short.
• 2:04
  Speaker 5: She got off the bus, came into the house, her
• 2:07
  Speaker 5: father shot her right in the chest.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: Sixth grader to Mia bats was like most girls her age.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: She loved playing with makeup.
• 2:18
  Speaker 8: Today makeup to Toya, well, I have always wanted to do.
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: My favorite color was pink, and the color that I
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: used today kind of mess mouth and she loved to
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: show off for the camera.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: In the fall of twenty sixteen, to Miya was excited about.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: Starting a new school year at a new school.
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: That's been all day out shopping for school supplies.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: The sixth guader was dressed too impressed for her first
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: day at Knox Dass Middle School, just outside of Nashville.
• 2:54
  Speaker 5: She had all new clothes. It appeared to me she
• 2:59
  Speaker 5: was very nat She had her backpack on, looked like
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: an angel.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: At the end of her first day, timmya boarded the
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: bus and headed home or she knew her dad would
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: be waiting for her.
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: He wasn't sure what time she would be home, so
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: he was home and thought he'd take a little nap.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: District Attorney Ray Whitley says, surveillance cameras captured Timothy bats
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: doing something else.
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: And he was walking around in the house with a
• 3:26
  Speaker 5: cell phone up to his left ear and a loaded handgun.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: Just walking around with the cellphone and the gun yeahd.
• 3:31
  Speaker 5: In his hand and the gun was loaded with twenty
• 3:34
  Speaker 5: three rounds of ammunition.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Minutes later, surveillance video shows his daughter Timya coming in
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: from school.
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: She took her backpack off, she set her backpack down,
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: she took her shoes off, set her shoes very neatly
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: by the backpack.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Defense attorney Joy Kimbro says Timothy was just starting to
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: doze off when he heard the door open.
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: He yelled again, who is that? No one responded. He
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: sat up in his bed and then he saw a shadow,
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: A quick shadow just leaped across like. When he saw
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: that shadow, he knew someone was in the house.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Fearing for his life, he grabs a gun from under
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: the dresser and goes to investigate.
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: He's about to exit his room door his daughter and
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: see he doesn't know it's his daughter jumps from the side,
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: his right side. She comes from the side and says
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: raw like that.
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: Trying to scare up. Well. She grabs it, just messing.
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: Around, and he thinks it's an intruder.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: He thinks, fort spit second, they got me, and he
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: shoots one time.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: The bullet went through the little girl's chest, came out
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: of the other side and lodged in the wall.
• 4:44
  Speaker 5: She had a little training bra and there's a bullet
• 4:46
  Speaker 5: hole in the training bra.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: After the shot is fired, surveillance video shows to me
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: at jumping.
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: Up and down.
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: He said, did I shoot you? Did I shoot you?
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: She said, I don't know. She pulled up her shirt
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: and he saw the hole.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: The frantic father grabbed his daughter and rushed her to
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: a nearby hospital, But two hours later, the bright and
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: beautiful eleven year old was dead.
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: It was so sad what happened, but it was just
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: a big mistake.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: A big mistake that prosecutors say Timothy Bants tried to
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: cover up with a big lie.
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: Now, he initially said that she was shocked when she
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: arrived home.
• 5:26
  Speaker 5: He told the police officer the same thing, that she
• 5:29
  Speaker 5: was holding her chest and she was bleeding from her
• 5:31
  Speaker 5: chest when she came into the house. She was screaming,
• 5:34
  Speaker 5: and of course I was a total fabrication.
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: Attorney Joy Kimbro says her client had to lie so
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: he could stay with his daughter.
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: He doesn't know if she's going to need blood, he
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: doesn't know if she's going to need an oregan, but
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: he knows whatever she needs, he's going to be there
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: for her.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: But he lied to police.
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: Well, that's the only way he could.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: Stay given his criminal record.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: She says Timothy believed if he told the truth, he
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: would have been arrested immediately and this last father daughter
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: conversation would have never happened.
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: On the ride to the hospital, he's apologizing, I'm so
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: sorry to me, I'm sorry she said, Daddy, I know
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: it was an accident. Daddy, I'm not mad at you.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: That's haunting that she was alive all that time, only
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: to die at the hospital.
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: Timothy didn't keep up the lie for long. I wasn't
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: expecting you to show up here to surprise for me.
• 6:26
  Speaker 6: I appreciate you coming in.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Hours after his daughter's death, he walked into the police
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: station voluntarily without an attorney.
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: Who is that and explained how he had.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: Mistakenly killed his firstborn child.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: Creeping come out.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: He promised to fully cooperate with investigators, and he had
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: one request, would.
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: You please let me stay out long enough to bury
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: my little girl?
• 6:58
  Speaker 6: And what do they do?
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: And he's given a one million dollar bond.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: In amount he couldn't afford. Why do you think that was?
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: I don't know why he was treated differently.
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: Do you think it was because he was an ex con?
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: X CON's get bonds all the time.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Timothy Batts was charged with reckless homicide, possessing a firearm
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: as a fellon, and tampering with evidence. What happened next
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: stunned prosecutors.
• 7:25
  Speaker 5: That courtroom was packed with Timothy Batts supporters and we
• 7:29
  Speaker 5: had a big eleven year old girl that hadn't even
• 7:32
  Speaker 5: been buried yet.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: There was suddenly a ground swell of support for the
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: embattled father. Thousand signed a petition asking for his release. Ultimately,
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: a judge reduced Bat's bond to a half million dollars.
• 7:45
  Speaker 5: A lot of his supporters got together and people pooled
• 7:49
  Speaker 5: their money.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: The father of four made bail and it was out
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: in time to attend to me as funeral.
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: But his freedom didn't last long.
• 7:57
  Speaker 5: He apparently had an affinity for cocaine for drugs, and
• 8:03
  Speaker 5: that came back to haunting.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: A month after his release, Timothy's bond was revoked.
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: He was back behind bars.
• 8:11
  Speaker 5: The judge specifically stated as a condition of his bond
• 8:14
  Speaker 5: that he was not to use any drugs whatsoever, but
• 8:18
  Speaker 5: he tested positive for cocaine within five days.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Despite passing subsequent drug tests. Bats would remain behind bar.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: It is totally irrelevant up next how long would he
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: be locked up the case against the grieving father goes
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: to court.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: The gun was in my hand that had just went off.
• 8:37
  Speaker 5: He was reckless in deciding to pull that trigger.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: Timothy Bats admits he shot and killed his eleven year
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: old daughter, but he swears to believee he thought she
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: was an intruder, So what would a jury think about
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: his explanation. We've got more in the emotional verdict that
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: sent cheers through the court.
• 8:58
  Speaker 5: Within five minutes of Tamea being in the house, she
• 9:02
  Speaker 5: was shot.
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: Timothy Batts admits he killed his own daughter, shock that
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: she thought one shot.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: He says it was a tragic mistake. Prosecutors say it
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: was something else.
• 9:15
  Speaker 5: It was reckless behavior with it by a convicted felon
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: that shouldn't have had a gun in the first place.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: The highly charged case against her father and fell.
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: In like they tried to portray him to be goes.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: Before judge and jury. His trial got underway in a
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: Hendersonville court.
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: This is Tama coming in.
• 9:36
  Speaker 8: She's wearing the book bag.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Just seconds after he fired the gun, hitting his daughter.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: He rushes to get her help.
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: Very good, Let the record replay.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Jurors were presented two very different pictures of the Tennessee Dan,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: who tearfully took the stand to recount his last conversation
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: with Tamiya on their way to the hospital.
• 9:54
  Speaker 5: She was like, Daddy, just tell me it's a dream.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: Daddy, tell me it's a dream, and I was like,
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: you know, I just kept on telling me I'm sorry.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: To me, I'm sorry, and then she was like I know,
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: She like I know.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: The defense painted him as a concerned father who fought
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: for custody, who had been victimized himself in the shooting
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: in the past, and he just reacted.
• 10:15
  Speaker 5: Part of that is true. He did fight for custody,
• 10:20
  Speaker 5: and he did have custody of Tamaya and her brothers
• 10:23
  Speaker 5: and sisters. But he also had another side as well,
• 10:27
  Speaker 5: and that side was a dark side.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: District Attorney Ray Woodley is referring to Timothy's criminal past.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: According to police, he had four arrests in two convictions
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: for drug possession.
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: You know, it doesn't take a lot to be a
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: felon in Tennessee.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: Something defense attorney Joy Kimbro tried to downplay.
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: Here in Tennessee, if you possess marijuana three times a
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: little marijuana you're gonna smoke the third time is a felony.
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: Was Timothy a criminal?
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: Timothy is a person who in the past had been
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: charged and convicted of a.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Crime, but was he now living in fear because of
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: that criminal past?
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: And I told the jerry that he was distracted for
• 11:11
  Speaker 5: some reason.
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: That is mister Bax's coming in his house.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: In court, prosecutors used surveillance video as evidence that the
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: father was distracted the day he killed his daughter.
• 11:22
  Speaker 8: Appears to be a sohoeut of a pistol right there,
• 11:25
  Speaker 8: and then if he goes forward as his arm swings
• 11:28
  Speaker 8: to behind him, you can see the pistol again in
• 11:32
  Speaker 8: his right hand.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Prosecutors said it was the gun used to kill Tama.
• 11:38
  Speaker 5: He came home and he was walking around in the
• 11:41
  Speaker 5: house with a cell phone up to his left ear
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: and a loaded gun, and the gun was loaded with
• 11:47
  Speaker 5: twenty three rounds of ammunition. Once looking over his shoulder,
• 11:52
  Speaker 5: it's almost like he was expecting somebody to be followed,
• 11:55
  Speaker 5: get him, coming to get him inside the home.
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: People were led to believe he was walking around the
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: house talking on the phone with a gun.
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: That's what it sounds like, but that's not what happened.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: The defense claimed the gun belonged to Timothy's cousin, who
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: had left it at his house just two days earlier.
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: The cousin had been drinking and he did not want
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: to leave in his car with a gun, so he
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: asked Timothy if he mind keeping the gun or could
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: he leave it at the house.
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: But he knew he wasn't supposed to have a pistol
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: with him.
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: Well, he wasn't supposed to have a pistol, right, but
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: he did. But this was just a circumstance. This wasn't
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: an ordinary thing. This isn't something that happens all the time.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: This is what the defense claims that surveillance video shows.
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: When he left home, he took the gun with him
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: so no one could get to the gun. He actually
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: thought that would be a safe thing to.
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: Do, saf to do to keep the gun in the
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: house exactly.
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: And when he comes back in, he's just going straight
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: to his room. He's not walking around with the gun.
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: He's not talking and swinging the gun.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: Other evidence presented by the prosecution included large amounts of
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: cash found and.
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: Ba's it is totally irrelevant.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Efforts by the defense to suppress the evidence were unsuccessful.
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: It is to inflame the jury, is to make the
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: jury think they're trying to back door in, Oh, he's
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: a drug dealer. They already know about a felony conviction
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: for drugs.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: But prosecutors argued the cash showed Batt's state of mind
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: the day he shot and killed Tama.
• 13:20
  Speaker 5: These are all factors that would show that mister Batts
• 13:25
  Speaker 5: was distracted to the point that he shot his daughter recklessly.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: All the the father hung his head and cried when
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: prosecutors showed jurors the bloody clothes that.
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: Had to be cut off his daughter at apparent bullet
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: hole here at the top of this blood.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: The defense called Timothy Batts to the stand, and he
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: told the court in his own words, how he mistakenly
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: shot his daughter.
• 13:49
  Speaker 5: At the edge of the door.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: She'd jump out from the side of a while and
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: say wow, and you know, just to scare me. And
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: the gun was in my hand and they had just
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: went off, and I realized there was to me. I'm like, Samiel,
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: please tell me not here.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: His lawyer said he had reason to be extra cautious
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: that day. She showed jurors six bullet wounds he got
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: from a shooting six years earlier. During closing arguments, the
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: defense said bats was simply a father who made a
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: terrible mistake and panicked.
• 14:18
  Speaker 9: He's a full like they tried to portray him to be.
• 14:21
  Speaker 9: He is a human being with four little children, one
• 14:24
  Speaker 9: and died three little children. Man he is a man
• 14:28
  Speaker 9: has been beat him all enough. He has a man
• 14:30
  Speaker 9: is taking six shots at the back and in the
• 14:32
  Speaker 9: back of his head.
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: He's been beat him all. Nah, I asked you fat inuman.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: While prosecutors zeroed in on the reckless homicide charge.
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: The defendant Timothy Batts fired without looking.
• 14:51
  Speaker 7: That's why all of us are here today, and to me,
• 14:54
  Speaker 7: a bats is not.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: After nine hours of deliberate rations, jurors found Timothy Batts
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: not guilty of campering with evidence, guilty of being a
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: felon in possession of a firearm. But we're deadlocked on
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: the charge of ruckless homicide.
• 15:12
  Speaker 5: Juror number one, I assume that you are hung on
• 15:16
  Speaker 5: camp one.
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: Is that correct?
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: Yes, sir, Just one kept prosecutors from winning a conviction.
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: Did the foreman say why this one juror held out?
• 15:25
  Speaker 5: She just did. She was not going to vote guilty.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: Rather than retry bats a plea bargain was reached.
• 15:31
  Speaker 5: We agreed that whatever if he were to play guilty
• 15:35
  Speaker 5: as charged to reckless homicide, that we would recommend to
• 15:38
  Speaker 5: the judge that that charge would run concurrently at the
• 15:41
  Speaker 5: same time with the felon im possession of a firearm charge.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: With time already served, he could be granted parole in
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: a matter of months.
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: Was justice served in this case?
• 15:52
  Speaker 5: It was? It definitely was. Because he has been held
• 15:55
  Speaker 5: a candle. He did plead guilty to reckless homicide. He
• 15:58
  Speaker 5: is serving for years.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: Was the sentence just in this case?
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: Not to me, not to Timothy, not to his kids,
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: not to his mother.
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: Should he have custody of his other children when he
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: gets out of prison.
• 16:12
  Speaker 5: He made one horrible, horrible mistake. He has had a
• 16:16
  Speaker 5: history of being involved with drugs, but that's certainly not
• 16:21
  Speaker 5: any business of mine at this point. Surely he's learned
• 16:26
  Speaker 5: a lesson.
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: Well by you too. Hope you love my video.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: Since Batt's prison sentences were ordered to be served concurrently,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: he'll be eligible for parole in the fall of next year.
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: Now we want to hear from you.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: Do you think Timothy Batts got off too easy or
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: was just as served?
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: Sound off right now on our Facebook page.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: Coming up a teen in her stepfather disappear on our
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: sixteenth birthday.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: For panic mother. It takes to social media to lead
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: for help.
• 17:01
  Speaker 10: I need my baby home like fifteen days ago, type home.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: The huge surprise, police would make hundreds of miles away.
• 17:09
  Speaker 6: We were extremely shot.
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: That's next.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: Now to a sixteen year old Georgia girl, smart beyond
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: her years, with dreams of going into medicine. That is
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: until she goes missing, and she won't be the only
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: one who vanishes that day, gone without a trace.
• 17:30
  Speaker 6: He had no credible sighting, just possible sightings.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: A sweet sixteen Georgia girl has vanished into the dark
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: knight along with her stepfather.
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: I'll be calling nursery a mother's desperate plead for help.
• 17:49
  Speaker 8: Do not answer at all.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: An intense police investigation soon digs deep into the murky mystery.
• 17:56
  Speaker 7: Police officers, investigators, they were searching in this kind of
• 17:59
  Speaker 7: life swampy area.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: Will they recover Janelle and Leon?
• 18:05
  Speaker 6: It may be more to this than just a simple
• 18:07
  Speaker 6: missing person.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: One shocking revelation will surface and it will paralyze that
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Georgia community already on edge.
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: Janelle did not deserve this.
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: She did not.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: The day had been so joyful for Latanya Janelle Carwell,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: simply known as Janelle.
• 18:33
  Speaker 11: Janelle was a loving, very intelligent, smart young woman who
• 18:40
  Speaker 11: wanted to be a doctor, who was an honor.
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: Student after all, Janelle was turning sixteen.
• 18:48
  Speaker 6: That was the morning of the sixteenth birthday.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: It's Easter Sunday. She celebrates the holiday and her birthday
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: with family and friends. Neighbors say the young teen seems happy.
• 18:59
  Speaker 6: She had not reported any problems to to anyone. The
• 19:02
  Speaker 6: neighbors saw nothing. They were having a a cookout, she
• 19:05
  Speaker 6: was inviting friends over, so it was nothing for us
• 19:10
  Speaker 6: to suspect that there was something going on.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: But shortly after midnight, something does go on, and their
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: birthday celebration is about to take a strange.
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: And tragic turn.
• 19:21
  Speaker 6: How can I help you?
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: Janelle's mother, Tanya and Tripp calls nine one one. Yes, ma'am,
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: I was calling to report a missing person to me.
• 19:30
  Speaker 7: Second, pretty hard.
• 19:31
  Speaker 11: Not but it's not, like.
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: Tanya says. It's not just her daughter who's vanished.
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: Your husband and your daughter or anything.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Worry. Tanya tells police her thirty eight year old husband,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: Leon Tripp, Janelle's stepfather, is not answering her now.
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: Frantic calls, neither is Janelle.
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: I'm calling you do not answer to be the one
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: and it's not like the one of them because they seek.
• 19:58
  Speaker 10: Recalling they're gonna.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: As Tanya reveals more.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: Cops soon discovered the teen and her stepdad had been
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: missing for nearly twenty four hours. Tanya soon tells the
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: dispatcher the pair had left the house together in the
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: midnight hours the day before.
• 20:15
  Speaker 6: Her husband had received a call from a friend who
• 20:18
  Speaker 6: had broken down and they were going to render him assistance.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: Tanya says Leon hopped in his truck, heading a half
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: hour's drive away from Augusta to clarksh Hill, South Carolina
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: to help his stranded friend. She says he took her
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: phone with him, two cell phones.
• 20:34
  Speaker 5: Don't have a map phone with you know, he got
• 20:37
  Speaker 5: rached or whatever.
• 20:37
  Speaker 10: Bro he got my field phone.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: At first, Tanya says she didn't even realize Leon took
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: Janell with him. Then she tells police her tech savvy
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: daughter went along to help work the GPS on a smartphone.
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: Now both have disappeared.
• 20:52
  Speaker 6: It was nothing ominous about it at first, and she
• 20:55
  Speaker 6: was both in the company of a trusted adult, which
• 20:58
  Speaker 6: was supposed to be have step father.
• 21:00
  Speaker 11: What step dad won't be his daughter to go with
• 21:05
  Speaker 11: him to help another guy at one o'clock in the morning.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: The mystery stunned Augusta, Georgia, says Angela Hart, a local pastor,
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: community activist and radio talk showers, raising suspicions and fear.
• 21:21
  Speaker 11: You want to make sure that that child is getting
• 21:23
  Speaker 11: proper rest sleep, and you wouldn't allow them to go
• 21:27
  Speaker 11: that time of morning to help someone that's broken down.
• 21:31
  Speaker 11: That doesn't make sense.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: But despite what some question as bizarre circumstances, at the moment,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: loved ones focused on one thing, finding Janelle and Liam.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: Two weeks later, a high school student and her stepdad
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: are still missing.
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: What's important is that she come home.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: Pastor Harden soon takes to social media pleading for clues,
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: going love on Facebook with Janelle's mom, Tanya.
• 21:58
  Speaker 10: I do have cancer, have brain cancer, and I have
• 22:01
  Speaker 10: lawn cancer.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: Tanya tells viewers that sickness prevented her from riding along
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: with Leon the night he went missing with Janelle.
• 22:09
  Speaker 10: I was inhaling too much of the smoke, so my
• 22:12
  Speaker 10: husband told me to go in the house and lay down,
• 22:14
  Speaker 10: so I did because I couldn't breathe. And three four, five,
• 22:19
  Speaker 10: six o'clock, I'm calling text and nothing. I need my
• 22:23
  Speaker 10: baby home, like fifteen days ago, type home because she
• 22:27
  Speaker 10: has never been away from me this long.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: The plea is an effort to raise money for a
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: reward offered to anyone who knows something. The well wishes
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: and donations begin to pour in.
• 22:39
  Speaker 11: Thank y'all for all the love, I see it, all
• 22:42
  Speaker 11: the likes.
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: Oh, isn't that beautiful?
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: It is in that beautiful Thank you.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: Police are doing their own searching for clues, and they
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: soon catch their first break. They spot the white pickup
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: truck in which Leon and Janelle were driving, abandoned along
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: the road just a mile.
• 22:59
  Speaker 6: From their on We processed the truck to make sure
• 23:02
  Speaker 6: if it was any trace evidence, any physical evidence, DNA
• 23:06
  Speaker 6: or anything of that nature to show signs of a
• 23:08
  Speaker 6: struggle or something had happened, and we found none.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: If the truck turns up in the neighborhood, is there
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: a chance Janelle and Leon will too, Cops step up
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: their search, hoping cell phones will provide some footprints and answers.
• 23:23
  Speaker 6: What we did was based on her cell phone and
• 23:26
  Speaker 6: his cell phone records to try to tragulate the area
• 23:29
  Speaker 6: in which both phones were hitting off the same towers.
• 23:32
  Speaker 6: Based on those toier readings, none of it suggested that
• 23:36
  Speaker 6: they were in the Clark Hill area, as he originally.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: Had stated, Janelle and Leon never make it to that
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: area where Leon says his buddy is stranded, and that's
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: not the only trouble he find.
• 23:48
  Speaker 6: Prior to a missing we were able to track phone
• 23:50
  Speaker 6: records and her social media activities, so she was very active,
• 23:54
  Speaker 6: and all that had ceased with the digital footprint of
• 23:56
  Speaker 6: a sixteen year old just to evaporate that was restraint.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: And then a number of new tips coming into police
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: take the case in an even.
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: More bizarre direction. People say they've actually.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: Seen Leon more than one hundred miles away in Atlanta
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: without Janelle.
• 24:15
  Speaker 6: He had briefly stayed with certain friends in Atlanta.
• 24:21
  Speaker 11: Up next the TVA is justice for Jenilla. We're not
• 24:24
  Speaker 11: gonna be quiet.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: In unspeakable turn of events is about to rock this
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: missing person's investigation.
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: I said, Tanya, please tell me that's not true.
• 24:33
  Speaker 6: Are you serious?
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: Where is Latanya Janelle Carwell?
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: No one's seen the Augusta Georgia Tine or her stepdad
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Leon since they left home together late one April night
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: on her sixteenth birthday, her frantic mother telling police they
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: hadn't answered her repeated calls for twenty four hours. But
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: now weeks later, the truck Leon was driving has been
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: found abandoned, and mysteriously, only one person is about to
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: turn up alive and well.
• 25:10
  Speaker 6: Leon Tripp, the stepfather, was spotted tom in a location
• 25:13
  Speaker 6: without the presence of the door. He had a relationship
• 25:18
  Speaker 6: with individuals in Atlanta. He had friends. He actually made
• 25:20
  Speaker 6: two or three trips back and forth while we were
• 25:23
  Speaker 6: actively looking for him and the doorter.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Detectives set out to track Leon down, but first they
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: dig into his background to find out just who they're
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: dealing with.
• 25:37
  Speaker 6: Leon Tripp was in prison. He had some assault charges,
• 25:40
  Speaker 6: he had some cruelty to children charges.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: Cops soon discovered that when Leon met Tanya, he was
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: behind bars doing time for aggravated assault. He and Tanya
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: correspond with one another and strike up a relationship to
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: even get married while Leon's in prison and make future plans.
• 25:57
  Speaker 6: He actually was released and moved directly into the family home.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: The family home with Tanya, Janelle, and Janelle's little sister, Tanya.
• 26:07
  Speaker 11: Troops should have protected Janelle from the very beginning two
• 26:11
  Speaker 11: years ago when she met him, but.
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: Now Janelle is gone.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: After several Leon sightings and a whole lot of unanswered
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: questions about Janelle's whereabouts. Leon is wanted again. Officers get
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: a warrant for his arrest on kidnapping charges, but as
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: they search, Leon's wife, Tanya seems torn.
• 26:32
  Speaker 7: She did show concern for her daughter, but when I
• 26:36
  Speaker 7: asked her, hey, investigators believe that he's taken her, she
• 26:43
  Speaker 7: was very defensive.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: TV reporter Kelly Wilie covered the story extensively for WRDW
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: News twelve and WAGT twenty six and interviewed Janelle's mother.
• 26:55
  Speaker 7: The community really felt for Tanya Trip. They saw a
• 26:59
  Speaker 7: grieving mother who wanted to know where her child was.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: Investigators say they also began noticing Tanya's strange behavior.
• 27:09
  Speaker 6: She even went on the media speaking out against the sheriff,
• 27:12
  Speaker 6: officing that we were wrong and we were falsely accusing
• 27:15
  Speaker 6: her husband.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: Undaunted, the US Marshals go searching for Leon in Atlanta
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: and reportedly discover he's at a U haul facility. When
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: officers corner him there, he's not alone right by his side,
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: Janelle's mom, Tanya Trip.
• 27:31
  Speaker 6: We were extremely shocked when we found her and him
• 27:34
  Speaker 6: actually together, and that's when we really got that sick
• 27:38
  Speaker 6: feeling that this case is really not hitting in a
• 27:44
  Speaker 6: good direction.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Tanya had an explanation, She tells cops. It was my
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: sheer accident that she and Leon were discovered together.
• 27:51
  Speaker 7: Tanya Trip was pretty much sticking with her story and
• 27:54
  Speaker 7: that when she was traveling to Atlanta, she seen him
• 28:00
  Speaker 7: walking along the road and it was just a big
• 28:04
  Speaker 7: coincidence that they had found each other.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: Authorities slamped Leon with kidnapping charges and not finding Tanya's story.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: Investigators charged her with hindering the apprehension of a criminal.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: Those who know the family well are stunned. Neighbor Ernestine
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: Howard says Tanya called her from jail to tell her
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: the news.
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: I asked her, what in the world, I said, Tanya,
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: please tell me that's not true.
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: Are you serious?
• 28:33
  Speaker 5: And she said yes.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: But just how involved is Tanya Trip in her own
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: daughter's disappearance?
• 28:40
  Speaker 6: That's the six or four thousand dollars question? And the
• 28:43
  Speaker 6: mother gave several interview accounts, but east story was inconsistent.
• 28:48
  Speaker 6: But they would tell a little bit more about their
• 28:51
  Speaker 6: dealing that they were trying to paint another picture.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: One of those stories referenced the nine to one one
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: call Leon Lee in the middle of the night to
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: clarks Hill South Carolina to help a stranded friend and
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: taking Janelle with him to work the gpis.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: I told Hill, are you way back, honey, Please call
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: me and let me know that y'all okay?
• 29:12
  Speaker 10: He said, all right.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: But as police press Leon, his version slips into something
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: completely different. Leon tells police he and his stepdaughter actually
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: were headed to Atlanta.
• 29:23
  Speaker 6: He gave her some money in which to get on
• 29:27
  Speaker 6: the bus and come back to Augusta, and he hadn't
• 29:29
  Speaker 6: seen her since.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: When investigators grilled Tanya about Leon's version, the normally talkative
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: mother suddenly gets tongue tied.
• 29:38
  Speaker 6: Come to find out that she only had that initious story.
• 29:40
  Speaker 6: She never prepared for the follow ups.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: Cops soon looked back to the original nine to one
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: one call, which may hold hidden clues to Janelle's mysterious disappearance.
• 29:51
  Speaker 6: It wasn't an alarming call until you go back and
• 29:54
  Speaker 6: put out the pieces together.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: That first piece of the puzzle begins with Tanya's seemingly
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: frantic call the night after her daughter goes missing. You
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: do not answer at all rewards, but police say Tanya's
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: emergency call is one big, well rehearsed lot.
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: I'm talking to you.
• 30:21
  Speaker 4: We have a deputy en route to you.
• 30:23
  Speaker 6: We truly believe that the mother knew that we would
• 30:27
  Speaker 6: never find the child where she said we were to
• 30:31
  Speaker 6: look for in.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: Detective Roundtree claims Tanya was hiding another dirty secret. Remember
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: she claimed to be battling cancer.
• 30:38
  Speaker 10: That I have brain cancer and I have lawn cancer.
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: He says that's not true either.
• 30:43
  Speaker 6: The mother was complicit in this criminal act.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: Cop says cell phone records show Leon and Janelle were
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: never in the area Tanya claim they drove to. They
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: now believe Tanya made it all up to buy time.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: What Leon was arrested investigated. Roundtree claims he was interviewed.
• 31:01
  Speaker 6: Let us believe that we were now working in homicide investigation.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: According to prosecutors, since that interview, Leon provided a statement
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: to them saying Janelle is no longer a lot.
• 31:11
  Speaker 6: We no longer consider this a missing person's investigation.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: Janelle Carwell presumed dead at age sixteen. With that, authorities
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: upgrade the charges against her mom and stepdad. Tanya now
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: accused of concealing her daughter's death, and Leon Tripp facing
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: a charge of murder.
• 31:29
  Speaker 6: And now our primary focus is the recovery of a Bundy.
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: It's been months since Janelle's disappearance, and the young vibrantine
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: has still not been found. Public defenders are representing Leon
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: and Tanya Tripp. Neither have entered a plea or are
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: saying where Janelle might be.
• 31:46
  Speaker 6: What we're fairly certain of is that Leon Tripp removed
• 31:51
  Speaker 6: the doorter from the house against her wheel and took
• 31:54
  Speaker 6: her to unknown location, and we feel that he injured
• 31:58
  Speaker 6: this child and adventure disposed of her remains.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: Sadly, many in the community are reeling from the reality
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: and feeling completely duped.
• 32:08
  Speaker 11: All the likes oh, in that beautiful, in that beautiful,
• 32:12
  Speaker 11: thank you, She's a liar in my opinion, She've told
• 32:19
  Speaker 11: a whole lot of lies. Tell what this baby is.
• 32:22
  Speaker 11: Why are you being quiet? You're not going anywhere? You
• 32:26
  Speaker 11: locked up.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: As prosecutors work on building their case, the Augusta, Georgia
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: community struggles with why somewhat would hurt Latanya Janelle Carwell.
• 32:35
  Speaker 6: They're the sixteen year old young girl out there somewhere
• 32:41
  Speaker 6: in the woods and a ditch in a river, somewhere
• 32:46
  Speaker 6: where she can't find peace, and.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: The horror the soft spoken teen must have fetched in
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: the remaining moments of her sixteenth birthday.
• 32:55
  Speaker 11: There need to be justus for Janelle and there would
• 32:58
  Speaker 11: be no rest with those parents. Would her mother know
• 33:01
  Speaker 11: their stepdad because they gonna have to tell what happened
• 33:05
  Speaker 11: to this baby