Hannah Thompson, 17, was on the run, heading out of Simpsonville, South Carolina with her boyfriend, U.S. Army soldier John Blauvelt. On Oct. 26, 2016, Cati Blauvelt, his wife of just a few months, had been found stabbed to death, her body left in a concrete box in an abandoned farmhouse. The knife blade broken off and left in her neck.
After investigators gave the news to John Blauvelt, he became their prime suspect. Investigator Keith Morecraft spoke with him and noted that he didn’t seem surprised, “didn’t ask normal questions … such as … where did you find her? How did she die?” And Investigator Cheryl Schofield was concerned for Thompson’s safety, stating “If he was willing to kill his own wife, there’s no telling what kind of danger Hannah Thompson would’ve been in by fleeing with him.”
Cati Blauvelt was just 22. She loved animals and had many friends. Her mother Patti Piver described Cati as “a free spirit … 5’1″f … a teeny, little thing.” She had met John Blauvelt when she was 20 and he was 26. John Blauvelt was well-known and respected by many in the small city of 20,000. He was a recruiter for the U.S. Army. He loved being part of the U.S. military. The job put him in touch with many of the area’s young people.
Cati Blauvelt
Jennifer Piver
At the time, Cati worked at a restaurant next door to the recruiting office. They started dating. Friends say that initially they seemed like a happy couple. But that changed fast, almost as soon as they got back from their honeymoon.
The home John Blauvelt owned, and that Cati Blauvelt moved into, was turned into a party house. John Blauvelt invited underaged kids there, to smoke weed, drink, and do drugs. Cati Blauvelt had wanted to start a new life and build a family with John. Instead, she got a crash pad. One of the kids John Blauvelt welcomed was Hannah Thompson. Friend Aly Somerville would say that Hannah was “a 100%” in love with John Blauvelt. Schofield said Thompson was like “John’s puppy” and would do anything John Blauvelt wanted. And adds Schofield, Thompson hated Cati Blauvelt.
A bad situation got much worse the night of Feb. 26, 2016, when police — alerted by Thompson’s father — showed up at John Blauvelt’s house. He would be charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, his soldier’s image replaced with a mug shot. That same day, Cati Blauvelt told police that a month earlier, John Blauvelt had threatened her with a gun. For that he would be charged with domestic violence.
John Blauvelt’s Army career was in tatters. The Department of the Army cut his pay and disciplined him, removing him from the recruiting duties that defined him. John Blauvelt reportedly blamed Cati Blauvert and told friends he intended to get revenge. Investigators say that was at the heart of why he murdered Cati. But before cops could build their case, John Blauvelt went on the run; with him was 17-year-old Hannah Thompson.
Hannah Thompson and John Blauvelt are seen on security video shopping while on the run.
U.S. Marshals Service
They would head toward the Pacific Northwest, but after a month, Thompson had enough of life on the run. She headed back home to Simpsonville. Then, over several years, she began to slowly provide information to authorities as to where she thought John Blauvelt might be. Leads Thompson provided, in part, led them to a house in Medford, Oregon.
On July 20, 2022, six years after Cati Blauvelt’s murder, U.S. Marshals and other law enforcement arrested John Blauvelt. He was brought back to face a South Carolina jury. Thompson would be a key witness against John Blauvelt. He would be convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Prosecutors and investigators agreed that Thompson’s testimony was critical to the case against him. He has appealed his conviction.
Thompson was charged with five felony counts, including obstruction of justice and “accessory after-the-fact.” Thompson pleaded not guilty. Authorities do not believe that Thompson was present when John Blauvelt murdered Cati Blauvelt.
On Aug. 20, 2025, Thompson pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of justice and one count of misprision of a felony. She was sentenced to three years of probation.
Cati Blauvelt’s mother says she thinks of Cati’s violent death every day. And that it does not get easier for her. She told the jury that Cati was pure “sunshine.”
On March 25, 1969, 17-year-old Mary Kay Heese never returned home from school in Wahoo, Nebraska. Hours later, her body was found beaten and stabbed to death on the side of the road outside of town.
Investigators tried to retrace Mary Kay’s last known whereabouts. One witness saw Mary Kay get into a car with two men on a street corner near her home. But investigators at the time were unable to figure out who was in that car. Weeks turned into months with no arrests. Mary Kay’s murder would remain unsolved for decades.
“48 Hours” correspondent Natalie Morales reports on how the murder was finally brought back into focus in “The Girl from Wahoo,” an all-new “48 Hours” airing Saturday, Feb. 14 at 10/9c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
Mary Kay Heese
Kathy Tull
In 2015, a new investigation was launched. Ted Green, a criminal investigator with the Saunders County Attorney’s Office, was assigned to the case.
“Every criminal investigation is a puzzle,” Green told “48 Hours.” For Green, part of figuring out that puzzle was learning more about Mary Kay Heese.
Mary Kay’s younger cousins, Mark Miller and Kathy Tull, remember Mary Kay as a happy person who always looked out for them. But they said that happiness was sometimes challenged by the struggles of adolescence.
Green learned Mary Kay came from a strict home under the eyes of watchful parents. It was a different situation at high school. “There was a group of girls that would get her together and put makeup on her at the beginning of the day and change her clothes out,” Green said.
“She wanted to fit in,” Miller told “48 Hours.”
Part of that desire to fit in was Mary Kay’s wish to attend the local Sadie Hawkins dance — a popular event at that time where the girls ask the boys to attend.
Tull told “48 Hours” that the shy Mary Kay struggled to find a date. Tull still has a letter from Mary Kay, written a week before her murder, asking her cousin Jerry to attend the dance with her.
“If we come over to get you on Friday the 28th or Saturday the 29th, will you go to the Sadie Hawkins dance with me?” Mary Kay wrote in the letter. “You can wear sportswear (not a tuxedo or anything) because it’s not a formal dance […] Don’t bring any money to get in because the girls are to pay for it all including the tickets and food.”
As Green learned more about Mary Kay, he came to one conclusion. “She wouldn’t get into a car with somebody that she didn’t know,” he said.
The pieces of the puzzle were coming together for Green, who focused on two names that kept coming up in the old case files: Joseph Ambroz and Wayne Greaser, both interviewed in the days following Mary Kay’s murder.
Joseph Ambroz, 22, was living in Wahoo and worked at a slaughterhouse at that time. He was also on parole after serving time for forgery and escaping custody.
Joseph Ambroz in 1968.
Greaser was friends with Ambroz. “He was just that wannabe kid who was just following around Ambroz,” said Deputy Saunders County Attorney Richard Register, who worked on the case.
Green and Register told “48 Hours” Ambroz knew Mary Kay. They both frequented the same café and had mutual friends. Green and Register also believe Mary Kay thought Ambroz was not a threat, but an opportunity to fit in with the crowd.
Green believes Ambroz and Greaser took Mary Kay to a well-known party spot near town and at some point Mary Kay tried to flee the car. Green says he believes Ambroz went after her and eventually stabbed her to death.
“She just wanted to get a boy to go to the dance with her. And unfortunately, the dance she went to was her death,” Register said.
More than five decades after Mary Kay Heese was found dead, 77-year-old Joseph Ambroz was arrested for her murder.
In July 2025, Ambroz took a plea deal and pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit first- degree murder. He was sentenced to two years in prison. Greaser, who had died by suicide in 1977, was named as the other person conspiring to kill Mary Kay.
For Mary Kay’s cousins, the plea deal and sentence were an injustice. They say Ambroz stole Mary Kay’s future.
“He got all these years to live, and Mary Kay never had the chance to live,” Miller told “48 Hours.”
ALL NEW: A girl is murdered in Wahoo, Nebraska. More than 50 years later, the clues that led to an arrest.
“48 Hours” correspondent Natalie Morales reports Saturday, Feb. 14 at 10/9c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
Sneak peek: Kiss of Death and the Google Exec – CBS News
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The mysterious death of a Google executive and his last night with an exotic beauty captured on video — now a court decides her fate. “48 Hours” correspondent Maureen Maher reports Saturday, August 30 at 9/8c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
It was just before 9 p.m. on Dec. 23, 2023, when police arrived on scene in Friendswood, Texas.
OFFICER (bodycam): What happened?
CONNOR HILTON: I screwed up so bad.
OFFICER: Somebody hurt?
CONNOR HILTON: (nods to affirm)
Bodycam video shows Connor Hilton, 17, center, sitting on the curb outside his Friendswood, Texas, home, on Dec. 23, 2023. He is holding up two fingers in response to the officer’s question “Somebody hurt?”
OFFICER: Who’s hurt?
CONNOR HILTON (holds up two fingers): Two people.
OFFICER: Two people. …
OFFICER: Where are they at in the house?
OFFICER: Where are your friends at?
CONNOR HILTON: They’re — they’re in the walkway. They’re in the walkway. (crying)
Two Texas teens shot in the head at friend’s home
OFFICER (bodycam/entering home): Oh, s***
When police entered Connor Hilton’s home,they found 18-year-old Ethan Riley and 19-year-old Benjamin Bliek lying on the floor. Each with a gunshot wound to the head.
15-YEAR-OLD (bodycam): Hello?
OFFICER: Hello? Who’s — who’s in here?
15-YEAR-OLD: I’m the caller in the bathroom.
They also discovered the boy who called 911. He was 15.
OFFICER (bodycam): Open the door. Let me see your hands. Let me see your hands.
15-YEAR-OLD (opens door): It’s just me. I’m on crutches.
OFFICER: Pull your shirt up. Pull your shirt up. Let me see the back. Turn around.
OFFICER (bodycam outside home): Is there anybody else that’s supposed to be in the house?
15-YEAR-OLD: No.
OFFICER: How many? Four total?
15-YEAR-OLD: It — it was four total.
The teen told police officers how quickly everything unfolded.
15-YEAR-OLD (bodycam): … We, as we, we literally 10 — not even a, two minutes of being in the house, uh – I – we come in, he’s, uh, on the couch or something, he stands up. I walk right to the bathroom, I have to pee. And then I heard two loud gunshots … And everybody was quiet. And I felt like I could hear laughing, but I think it was just them breathing. And Connor was like, “What have I done? What have I done?” And started crying. And I don’t know where — I don’t know where y’all found him. But I thought he was gonna shoot through the door or something. …
When police arrived, Ethan Riley, 18, and Benjamin Bliek, 19, were found lying on the floor of Connor Hilton’s Friendswood, Texas, home, each with a gunshot wound to the head.
In the house, unbelievably, paramedics saw signs of life in Ben and Ethan and worked to keep them alive.
OFFICER (bodycam): Where’s the gun at, bud?
CONNOR HILTON: I — I really have no clue.
Outside, police bagged Connor’s hands to preserve evidence before putting him into a squad car.
CONNOR HILTON (bodycam): I need to be put in a mental hospital.
Connor, at first, claimed he fired the gun in self-defense.
CONNOR HILTON: We got into an argument.
OFFICER: OK.
CONNOR HILTON: And Ethan tried to — he tried to come at me and … He tried to come at me and I freaked out and, um — He – he – he — he tried to grab for my throat.
At the time of the shooting, Connor’s mother, Johnece Hilton, wasn’t home.
Johnece Hilton: I got a message from my neighbor that said, hey, something is going on at your house. … And I was already on my way home. …
OFFICER: I — I’m gonna talk to you something that’s gonna be very hard to talk about.
JOHNECE HILTON: OK.
Johnece Hilton: The police had me sit in a car … and he told me. …
JOHNECE HILTON (in police car): I cannot believe this.
OFFICER: Yeah. No, you know —
JOHNECE HILTON: This is insanity. …
Tracy Smith: What was going through your mind?
Johnece Hilton: I was just like, how could this happen? … I was just there 45 minutes ago and he — he was perfectly fine. …
It wasn’t long before Connor’s father, Neal Hilton, received word. Johnece and Neal divorced back when Connor was a toddler.
Neal Hilton: Never in a million years would you think you would get — I would get that kind of phone call, just knowing — you know, just knowing my son. …
Ben and Ethan were taken to area hospitals where they were fighting for their lives. Nick McCanless, then a detective with the Friendswood Police Department, was tasked with calling Ben’s mom, Shannon Bliek.
Det. Nick McCanless: I get her phone number through dispatch and uh, call her up and I said, “Look … your son has been injured … and I need you to come up here.”
Shannon Bliek: I just got in the car, and I just started praying. …
Tracy Smith: And what happened when you got to the hospital?
Shannon Bliek: Nick met me outside the doors, and he told me that Ben had been shot. And I remember falling to my knees. And he, you know, was like, come on, let’s go upstairs, and wait in the waiting room and let’s find out what’s going on.
Eventually, a doctor came out to speak with them.
Shannon Bliek: He said that Benjamin had been shot in the head. … It was all very surreal. It just didn’t make any sense. … I just kneeled on the floor and just prayed.
Tracy Smith: What did you say in that prayer?
Shannon Bliek: I just asked that He’d be with Ben and that He please get us through this. …
While Ben underwent surgery, Connor Hilton was taken to the Friendswood Police Department.
CONNOR HILTON (in police car): Where am I being transported to?
OFFICER: Friendswood.
CONNOR HILTON: I know this isn’t a time to be — be bringing this up, but are you having a good Christmas, officer? …
Nothing about that night was making sense.
DETECTIVE SEAGO (police interview): Listen, what I’ve gotta do —
CONNOR HILTON: Is read me my Miranda rights. I have the right to attorney —
DETECTIVE SEAGO: So, well. Yeah. But I’m — I’m gonna read ’em, man.
Soon, Connor would end up in an interrogation room, with an entirely new story to tell.
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): Let me just cut straight to the chase …
Det. Nick McCanless: He literally just kind of opened up, right? And it was an emotional roller coaster. …
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): You know what, I need to be honest with you guys. I just need to be… (crying) Oh, my God. …
“The idea of murder is super interesting for me,” Connor Hilton tells detectives
DETECTIVE SEAGO (police interview): Hey man, how are you?
CONNOR HILTON: Doing good. How are you?
DETECTIVE SEAGO: Good, man. I’m Detective Seago.
CONNOR HILTON: Do you know if my parents are here?
DETECTIVE SEAGO: Yeah, I think your mom and dad.
As his two friends were in the hospital fighting for their lives, Connor Hilton was in a Friendswood Police Department interrogation room so that detectives could start to unravel the truth of what happened.
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): How you doing, sir?
DETECTIVE SEAGO: This is Detective McCanless.
Det. Nick McCanless: I knew nothing about him … I kind of went in blind. … And so I had no idea if he was going to be aggressive towards me …
DETECTIVE MCCANLESS (police interview): I don’t know you, man. You know what I mean? I’m trying to get to know you, right? Just trying to understand, you know?
CONNOR HILTON: Yes, sir.
Det. Nick McCanless: Yes, sir. No, sir. …
Tracy Smith: Very polite.
Det. Nick McCanless: Very polite. … Not who I normally would sit across from and interview right after a shooting.
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): Let me just cut straight to the chase …
It appeared the 17-year-old didn’t want to waste any time. He launched into a story and this time, he didn’t mention an argument. Instead, he said it was an accident.
Connor Hilton, left, with detectives Seago, center, and McCanless of the Friendswood Police Department.
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): I don’t — I don’t know. It just all kind of — it just all happened (crying) …
DETECTIVE MCCANLESS: Tell me how the gun goes off.
CONNOR HILTON: It happened so fast. I – I — I had it in my hand. I — I really don’t know (crying). I was just standing next to Ethan. (Crying) I — I don’t know. … But I — I — I heard it —I heard it — I heard it go off.
Det. Nick McCanless: I’m letting him stick with his story about it just went off, right?
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): My f******* idiot self had the stupid finger on the trigger.
Det. Nick McCanless: So I’m like, OK, well, how did it go off the second time? … And so, I said, Connor …
DET. MCCANLESS (police interview): I’ve got two guys that are — that have both been shot in the head, right? So, you know what I mean? Like, how does that happen as an accident? That’s what I want you to explain to me …
That’s when Connor Hilton broke down.
Det. Nick McCanless: It’s like his whole personality, everything changed.
And so did his story, yet again.
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): You know what, I need to be honest with you guys. I just need to be (crying) — Oh, my God. OK. I’ve had suicidal, homicidal thoughts for so long. I’ve — I — I — I went up (crying) — I went up to — to Ethan and just— (simulates shooting, crying) … I’m sorry for lying to you guys.
Detective: That’s OK.
CONNOR HILTON: I really am sorry.
And Connor didn’t stop there.
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): I convinced my mom to buy that gun for me so I could either shoot myself or shoot somebody. Oh, this feels so much better. (gasps)
Connor told the detectives that he hadn’t told anyone, including his mom, that he had been experiencing those suicidal and homicidal thoughts.
DETECTIVE MCCANLESS (police interview): What did you think you were going to be able to achieve, to help you, by doing this tonight? Was it something you felt you had to do to be able to get this pressure off of you?
CONNOR HILTON: Yes. You — you said it right there. Those are the exact words … I know it’s going to sound really like psychopathic and just like straight up disgusting and just weird, but the idea of (crying) murder is just super interesting for me. I don’t know why. I don’t know why. It is. I don’t know why. (crying)
DETECTIVE SEAGO: Listen, listen, hey — it’s OK …
Det. Nick McCanless: That interview … was probably one of the most honest interviews I’ve ever had with a suspect in a case where literally they just poured everything out on the table. And like, you could see the sigh of relief …
Tracy Smith: So walk me though what Connor said happened.
Det. Nick McCanless: Connor says that he had planned this … His plan all along was to shoot his friends.
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): Been planning it for so long.
But he said he had no specific target in mind. He had invited a whole group of friends over that night; Ethan and Ben just happened to be the ones who showed up.
15-YEAR-OLD (bodycam): I was convinced maybe he was gonna try to kill me, too.
As for that 15-year-old who went to the bathroom as soon as he got there? He simply got lucky.
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): He closed the bathroom door. … I — I thought it was risky to either shoot through the door or go — ’cause he locked the door.
DETECTIVE MCCANLESS: OK.
CONNOR HILTON: And I’m really glad. I’m really. I’m so, so glad that he closed the door and I didn’t kill him. (crying)
Before the interview ended, Connor made yet another admission:
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): What I did was wrong. I need to do the punishment. I know that. But I also need help. I need really, really—I need some help. (crying)
Det. Nick McCanless: I could tell he was struggling that night with, I knew this is what I felt, I knew this is what I wanted to do, but how I got here? I don’t know. …
Connor Hilton was arrested on two counts of aggravated assault with serious bodily injury. That night, in jail, Hilton was allowed to make a phone call to his mother.
CONNOR HILTON (jail phone call): Mom, I need — I need help. I need like — like mental — like mental—like mentally help. (crying)
JOHNECE HILTON: I know, sweetheart. It’s OK. We’ll get it for you, OK?
CONNOR HILTON: I did—I did—I did a very bad thing.
The next day – Christmas Eve – Connor was released on bond.
Johnece Hilton: We … got him home … and then he just lost it, fell on the floor.
Neal Hilton: Yeah.
Johnece Hilton: Like crying (crying). …
Tracy Smith: Did he tell you what happened? …
Johnece Hilton: I — I couldn’t hear any of it. … I, like I, mentally, didn’t want to hear.
The Riley family spent their Christmas Eve in the hospital and were there when their son, Ethan, died.
On Christmas night, officers were back at Connor Hilton’s door to arrest him on a murder charge.
Connor Hilton: I look out the window and there’s a SWAT truck outside.
OFFICER (bodycam | officers enter home): Johnece —
JOHNECE HILTON: Yes, sir.
OFFICER: Hey, is he here?
Tracy Smith: They came in.
Connor Hilton: Yeah, they came in …
OFFICER (bodycam): Where’s he at?
OFFICER: Where’s he at?
JOHNECE HILTON: He’s right there. He’s right there.
OFFICER: Hands, hands, hands. Show me your hands.
Connor Hilton: I was kind of like in the back of the house sort of, and I just had my hands up.
OFFICER (bodycam): Turn around. Face away from me.
Tracy Smith: And they had their guns drawn?
Connor Hilton: Yes, ma’am.
OFFICER (bodycam): You’re under arrest for murder, OK bud? (Connor crying) Alright, come on, bro. …
JOHNECE HILTON: May I give him a hug?
OFFICER: No.
JOHNECE HILTON: No hugs?
OFFICER: No hugs.
NEAL HILTON: Connor —
OFFICER: Go. Let’s go.
NEAL HILTON: No hug? Hey, we love you, Connor.
JOHNECE HILTON: Please. I love you, bubby.
NEAL HILTON: Connor, we’re working on it, OK? Be strong.
Connor was booked into jail, but again, the stay was short-lived. He was eventually given a bond, and his family posted it.
As Connor’s parents began grappling with what their son had done, Shannon Bliek was still in the ICU with her son, Ben.
Shannon Bliek: His head was bandaged significantly.
She’ll never forget the moment she was first allowed to see him.
Shannon Bliek: I saw him, and I started to hyperventilate. … And a nurse grabbed me and hugged me. … I composed myself and I walked over … I said, “Benjamin, Ben, mama’s here.” And Ben opened his eyes. … Kind of like, I hear you, you know? …
If there is any good news in this story, it’s that Ben Bliek survived.
The Accutane defense
Shannon Bliek: He has shown more resilience and more grit than any person I could ever … even know. … It’s just like he’s on a mission to get better. And he just does it.
Shannon Bliek believes it’s a miracle her son Ben survived.
Shannon Bliek: Both bone flaps were removed, meaning the two big parts of the — the skull. … He had a tracheotomy put in to breathe and he had a feeding tube put in to eat. … And he was paralyzed on the right side.
Following the shooting, Ben spent more than three weeks in the hospital before being transferred to an inpatient rehab. Not long after arriving there, remarkably, he was up and walking.
Shannon Bliek: He was working so hard, so hard. …
According to Shannon, Ben would stay in that rehab for over a month.
Shannon Bliek: He had to learn to swallow again. I mean, everything.
During that time, Shannon shielded her son from the details of the shooting. Ben doesn’t remember anything from that night. It wasn’t until he came across an article on his mom’s phone that he learned his friend Connor Hilton pulled the trigger—and that his best friend,Ethan Riley, was killed.
Survivor Ben Bliek
CBS News
Ben Bliek: I was really sad. …
Tracy Smith: What was Ethan like?
Ben Bliek: He was just an outstanding guy. (emotional) … He … looked on things with a positive light (emotional). …
Tracy Smith: You learned that this guy that you were friendly with was the one who shot you and shot Ethan. …
Ben Bliek: I was furious …
But Ben forced himself to stay focused on his recovery. At that point, Connor Hilton was out on house arrest awaiting trial. His parents say they were still dumbfounded.
Neal Hilton: We knew that our son, not in a million years, in his right mind would do that. We knew that. …
Tracy Smith: You think he wasn’t in his right mind?
Neal Hilton: Oh yeah, he definitely wasn’t. … In his right mind, he would never do this. … He’s always been the sweetest, loving boy ever.
In search of an explanation, Connor’s father Neal began researching a prescription acne medication his son had been taking called Accutane. The drug label warns of risk of “depression, psychosis … suicide, and aggressive and/or violent behaviors.” Neal encouraged his son’s lawyers to look into it.
Isotretinoin is the generic version of Accutane, a medication prescribed for acne.
Alamy
Adam Brown, J.L. Carpenter and Rick DeToto make up Connor’s defense team.
J.L. Carpenter: Connor had … no trouble with the law, no trouble with school …
Adam Brown: This doesn’t make sense. …
Rick DeToto: Something changed. … The kid changed. What changed him? …
J.L. Carpenter: What it came down to in our research was the acne medication. … And my research led me to Dr. Bremner.
Dr. Doug Bremner: My name is Dr. Doug Bremner. I’m a professor of psychiatry and radiology at Emory University School of Medicine …
J.L. Carpenter: His CV is 96 pages long. …
Adam Brown: We didn’t play around when we got our expert …
J.L. Carpenter: I don’t think there’s another human being on this Earth who knows more about this topic … than Dr. Douglas Bremner.
Dr. Bremner says he has done extensive research on isotretinoin, the generic version of Accutane. The drug is sold under several brand names. He also gets paid to testify in cases.
Dr. Doug Bremner: It’s a very strong medication … There’s a large number of people, you know, throughout the world that have experienced side effects from it … including psychiatric side effects.
Tracy Smith: Why is it still on the market?
Dr. Doug Bremner: Well, it’s a great treatment for acne, especially … severe acne that’s cystic.
And that’s what Connor Hilton says he has.
Connor Hilton: Ever since I was little, I’ve always had these bumps … on my bottom … Sometimes on my arm pit. … They would be extremely painful. … I couldn’t even walk. Like, that’s how bad they were … We tried all sorts of medicine to … make it go away. … And then one day we went to the dermatologist, and they said, hey, we’re gonna give you Accutane.
That was in late July 2022, about a year-and-a-half before the shooting. Connor was 15 at the time. His mother signed a document acknowledging the risks. According to court-admitted dermatology records, about a month later, Connor reported that he stopped taking the medication because he was “feeling symptoms of depression.”
Connor Hilton: I was feeling real down … and didn’t really feel like doing anything.
But Bremner interviewed Connor at the defense’s request, and Connor told himthat he wasn’t completely honest back then. He said that it was after he started on the medication that he began experiencing homicidal thoughts, too.
Connor Hilton and his parents talked exclusively with “48 Hours” correspondent Tracy Smith.
CBS News
Tracy Smith: Did you tell anybody that you were having these thoughts? Did you try to get help? …
Connor Hilton: I was scared to tell people of my actual thoughts because I didn’t wanna go to a mental hospital and people think I’m crazy.
Connor told Bremner that when he stopped taking the medication, the thoughts subsided.
Connor Hilton: They slowly disappeared. … I was feeling more energetic, more like will to do stuff … but I was also in pain ’cause of the bumps. They got worse again because I wasn’t taking Accutane …
In January 2023, after several months of being off the medication, Connor’s dermatology records show that he went back on it. This time, he was given a lower dose than initially prescribed.
Tracy Smith: Were you at all apprehensive? Like, oh, this messed with my mind the first time maybe I shouldn’t go back on this stuff. …
Connor Hilton: The bumps were so painful. I — I just needed something to cure it because it was so un — it was just unbearable. …
Tracy Smith: Did the thoughts come back?
Connor Hilton: Yes, ma’am … slowly, but yes, it did, suicidal and homicidal thoughts. …
Connor told Bremner that the thoughts eventually became consuming.
Connor Hilton: It just amplified the longer I was on it.
But he never reported any issues to his dermatologist again.
Connor would continue taking the medication on and off for the next 11 months — up until the time of the shooting. Connor told Bremner that on that day, he took doublehis prescribed dose.
Dr. Doug Bremner: He said that he had missed the dose the day before. So instead of taking two pills, he took four pills. …
After pulling the trigger that night, Connor said he stopped taking Accutane and never experienced homicidal thoughts again. After speaking to Connor, and reviewing the evidence in the case, Bremner formed an opinion.
Tracy Smith: Why do you believe Connor Hilton shot his friends that night?
Dr. Doug Bremner: I think he became psychotic on Accutane, and he had recurrent homicidal ideation that he was not able to control …
Bremner is firm in his opinion.
Dr. Doug Bremner: These … thoughts did not occur before he took Accutane. … He went off the drug and those thoughts went away. And then he started the drug again and the thoughts came back. So that’s considered to be proof basically of a causal effect between a drug and a symptom. …
Tracy Smith: You know that people are gonna look at this and say, this is just a family looking for an excuse for the horrible thing that their kid did.
Dr. Doug Bremner: Well, I think that, you know, there was no motivation, there was no history whatsoever of conflict. … This person was psychotic. …
JG Pharma, the distributor listed on the box of Accutane that Connor Hilton was taking at the time of the shooting, did not respond to “48 Hours”‘ request for comment.
But Connor’s defense attorneys would build their entire case around Bremner’s opinion, even though they were unaware of any other homicide case in which an Accutane defense worked.
Adam Brown: You see this kid … you see how upset he is, you see how remorseful he is. … It’s not just some young man deciding, I’m just gonna go on this rampage. That’s not what we have here. …
But prosecutors wouldn’t be so convinced.
Kayla Allen: It’s not Accutane, he was evil.
What led Connor Hilton to kill?
In August 2025, just weeks before Connor Hilton’s murder trial was scheduled to begin, a hearing was held to determine whether defense expert Dr. Doug Bremner would be allowed to testify.
Rick DeToto: He’s the most qualified expert I’ve ever had on a case.
Defense attorney Rick DeToto had to convince a judge that the doctor’s testimony was reliable and relevant.
Rick DeToto: What we’re arguing is that through the expert … Connor … was in psychosis from the Accutane and he could not control himself. … Murder … has gotta be done intentionally and knowingly. … He could not control his behavior. And that takes out the element of intentionally and knowingly in murder. …
At the hearing, Dr. Bremner testified that it was his opinion that Hilton was suffering from a medication psychotic disorder on the night of the incident.
CONNOR HILTON (bodycam | night of shooting): (Wails) Why did I do this? (stomps feet)
He pointed to a study he conducted which found that isotretinoin, the generic version of Accutane, impacts a part of the brain that regulates emotion.
See the reddish area on the left? It’s not on the right. Dr. Bremner says that illustrates the brain on Accutane has less activity.
Dr. Douglas Bremner
DR. DOUG BREMNER (at hearing): There’s the brain on the left before treatment; and then, after three months of treatment, you can see there’s a — a visible decrease in function in the upper part of the brain.
A slide from Bremner’s study shown at the hearing(pictured above), shows a reddish area on the brain on the left that’s not on the right. Bremner says that illustrates the brain on Accutane has less activity.
RICK DETOTO (at hearing): Why is that important to what we have been talking about?
DR. DOUG BREMNER: Because we know that that part of the brain is involved in depression and also impulsivity.
Ben Bliek and his mother were in the courtroom.
Ben Bliek: It is a bunch of horse s***.
Shannon Bliek: It was very convincing listening to that gentleman speak. … And then once questions were asked on the prosecution side … It just fell apart.
PROSECUTOR SHAWN CONNALLY: Have you ever performed a brain scan of Connor Hilton?
DR. DOUG BREMNER: No.
Tracy Smith: What was your reaction when you heard that their defense was going to be that this acne medication caused psychosis?
Kayla Allen: Well, I thought it was ridiculous. …
Kayla Allen is the lead prosecutor on the case.
Kayla Allen: I don’t think a jury was going to buy the Accutane … made me do it defense.
At the hearing, prosecutors argued Bremner’s testimony should be excluded. And they introduced a more recent study that found that: “… isotretinoin users donot have an increased risk of suicide or psychiatric conditions …” For Allen, the case is simple:
Kayla Allen: I think that he just wanted to see what it felt like to kill someone.
Tracy Smith: And that had nothing to do with the acne medication he was on?
Kayla Allen: I don’t believe it did. No. …
She argues Connor was in his right mind at the time of the shooting and points to that statement he made on scene as proof.
Kayla Allen: He tried to make a statement … That … one of the boys had come at him.
CONNOR HILTON (bodycam): We got into an argument …
CONNOR HILTON (bodycam): Ethan … he tried to come at me, and … he – he – he — he tried to grab for my throat. …
Kayla Allen: He’s working a self-defense argument right from the beginning. … Someone … who’s insane at the time they’ve committed a crime can’t automatically start forming a defense for themselves. … By the time he got to the police station, it was like, look, I’m sorry, I lied to you. I’m not gonna lie to you anymore. I’m gonna tell you the truth.
And Allen says Connor’s police interview is also key.
Kayla Allen: He told police officers that he had been planning it.
He had acknowledged that he knew right from wrong, too.
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): I need to do the punishment. I know what I did was wrong …
Kayla Allen: He knew by loading that gun … and putting it up to someone and pulling that trigger that he was going to kill them. … That’s what he wanted to do. …
Tracy Smith: These were his friends.
Kayla Allen: Yes.
Tracy Smith: Why would he shoot them?
Kayla Allen: I don’t know. …
Tracy Smith: Because there’s no clear motive in this case, doesn’t that support the defense’s argument that Connor went into some sort of a psychosis?
Kayla Allen: I don’t think it does. … There’s just people that are evil and do evil things.
Allen argues Connor Hilton is one of those people.
Tracy Smith: Had you ever seen Connor pull out this gun before?
Ben Bliek: Yeah.
Connor Hilton
Neal Hilton
His friends told detectives about things he’d said in the months leading up to the shooting.
Kayla Allen: He would say, one day I wanna be important. … I wanna leave a legacy. And he would make comments about killing people.
And detectives also pulled Connor’s online activity. On YouTube, he downloaded numerous videos about murder. His social media posts referenced it as well. Connor’s friends reported this post was made just hours before the shooting — it contains the lyrics, “Murder one, better run … Killing plenty is so fun.”
J.L. Carpenter: That’s chemically induced …
Connor’s defense attorneys argue Connor became obsessed with murder after he went on Accutane.
Tracy Smith: So, all of that can be blamed on the acne medication?
J.L. Carpenter: Absolutely.
And they say the police investigation supports their case, because several of Connor’s friends told police they noticed a change in him during sophomore year, which was afterhe went on the drug.
Tracy Smith: And when you say they noticed a change, what are they saying?
J.L. Carpenter: He was starting to isolate. He was getting more involved into true crime. He wanted to be a homicide detective. …
But Allen insists Connor’s behavior had nothing to do with Accutane.
Kayla Allen: That’s just what the defense wants the community to believe because it gives them an excuse. … He was having problems already before Accutane was even introduced in his life about not wanting to go to school …
In fact, Connor was prescribed the antidepressant Prozac months before he started on Accutane. But Connor says he was only struggling with normal teenage anxiety then.
Connor Hilton: I was a freshman. I was nervous. … Do I fit in? Do I not? …
Tracy Smith: And during that freshman year, did you have suicidal, homicidal thoughts?
Connor Hilton: No, ma’am.
But after that hearing to determine whether Bremner would be allowed to testify, the judge dealt the defense a blow and ruled Bremner would only be allowed to testify during the punishment phase of the trial, if necessary.
J.L. Carpenter: So, in Texas, we have two phases, guilt/innocence, and then if there’s a guilty verdict, the punishment phase. …
Tracy Smith: So, what will you do during the first phase of the trial, the guilt/innocence phase, if you can’t present your expert? …
Rick DeToto: There’s not much you can do. You just have to sit there and take it and wait ’til you get to punishment. And then we put on an aggressive case regarding the Accutane.
There was still a lot on the line. Because in Texas criminal court, Connor Hilton was considered an adult, and a jury could sentence him to as little as five years in prison all the way up to 99 years — or life.
Tracy Smith: How high are the stakes here?
Adam Brown: I don’t think you get much higher
J.L. Carpenter: It’s a kid’s life.
Survivor faces his shooter in court
Two weeks before Connor Hilton was set to stand trial, there was a big development. Prosecutors offered him a deal: 50 years in prison if he pleaded guilty to murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He would also have to waive his right to appeal.
Neal Hilton: We know … Connor would’ve never done this if it wasn’t for the Accutane. …
Tracy Smith: So, you didn’t wanna take the plea deal?
Neal Hilton: I didn’t.
Tracy Smith: You didn’t wanna take the plea deal?
Johnece Hilton: No. No. …
Tracy Smith: But Connor?
Neal Hilton: Well, he did. …
Tracy Smith: What did Connor tell you?
Johnece Hilton: I don’t want the families to have to go through that. (crying)
They say their son didn’t want Ethan Riley’s family and Ben Bliek and his family to have to suffer through a trial. And he also didn’t want to risk receiving a life sentence.
Neal Hilton: He was trying to get us on board with it … And I said, “Bud,” I said, “it’s just a long time.” (emotional)
But ultimately, the decision was Connor’s and he chose to accept the deal. Connor’s defense attorneys say they didn’t counsel him one way or the other, but they believe he made the right call.
Rick DeToto: I think the consensus between the three of us was there was a very strong possibility that he would get life. … That bodycam video walking in the house … It’s a very difficult bodycam video to watch.
But while Connor Hilton and his defense team had worried about the possibility of a life sentence, prosecutor Kayla Allen had worried about the opposite.
Kayla Allen: My main concern was he was a young kid. … And I think that at times it hurts jury’s hearts to sentence a young kid to life. … We did not plea the case because we were worried about the Accutane … It was more his age. …
She says she offered the deal only after confirming the victims’ families were on board.
On Sept. 2, 2025, a plea hearing was held.
JUDGE REBECCA MILLO: It’s my understanding you’re here this morning to enter a plea on both of these charges. Is that correct?
CONNOR HILTON: Yes, your Honor. (crying)
JUDGE REBECCA MILLO: How do you plea to each of these charges?
CONNOR HILTON: Guilty.
Connor Hilton, with his attorneys, pleads guilty to murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in exchange for 50 years in prison. He also waived his right to appeal.
CBS News
Ben Bliek: He was crying because he was going to prison. And not because —
Shannon Bliek: He felt bad for what he did. …
Tracy Smith: Do you think that Connor’s acne medication played any role? …
Ben Bliek: No.
Shannon Bliek: No. … We know a lot of people who’ve taken that medication.
Tracy Smith: And they don’t have homicidal tendencies?
Shannon Bliek: Correct. …
Tracy Smith: Why do you think Connor pulled the trigger?
Ben Bliek: Because he wanted to murder somebody.
After Connor Hilton formally accepted the plea, Ben got the chance to make a victim impact statement. He made it clear to Connor how he felt.
Ben Bliek addresses Connor Hilton in court: “I will never forgive you.”
CBS News
BEN BLIEK (in court): First of all, stop sniveling. Stop crying. You did this to yourself … Secondly, the grief you have caused the Rileys, and my own family, I will never forgive you. …
Shannon addressed the court next. She turned her attention to Connor’s mother.
SHANNON BLIEK (in court): We are all living this nightmare because a mother chose not to tell her son no when he asked her to buy a gun … This mother put the gun in the hand of a child who should not have had it … Shame on you.
Remember, Connor had told police his mother bought him the gun.
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): I convinced my mom to buy that gun for me …
And in the hours after the crime, Johnece also told that to police.
DETECTIVE MCCANLESS (police interview): What was the reason for buying the gun?
JOHNECE HILTON: He wanted to get it.
DETECTIVE MCCANLESS: OK.
But when we interviewed both Connor and Johnece Hilton, they denied that the gun was purchased for him.
Johnece Hilton: I purchased that for myself …
Tracy Smith: Why did you tell the police that you did buy it for him?
Johnece Hilton: I have no idea. I — I don’t even remember that — they showed me the interview. (crying) I don’t have — I have no memory of that. …
Tracy Smith: Do you think you were covering for him? Why would you say that?
Johnece Hilton: I have no idea. I have no idea. (crying)
Johnece Hilton has not been charged with any crime in connection with the case. And even though she bought the gun less than two months before the crime, she insists she had no idea her son was homicidal.
Tracy Smith: There were these social media posts that he made about murder cases.
Johnece Hilton: Mm-hmm.
Tracy Smith: He watched a lot of murder videos.
Johnece Hilton: Yes. …
Tracy Smith: Weren’t these warning signs?
Johnece Hilton: No, I didn’t think so. …
The Hiltons continue to blame the acne medication.
Tracy Smith: You bought the gun in November. You didn’t see any effects of the acne medication, psychologically, that would lead you to think I shouldn’t have a gun in the house?
Neal Hilton: I didn’t.
Johnece Hilton: I didn’t, no. …
Still, Johnece says she lives with an enormous amount of regret.
Johnece Hilton: And I’m so sorry that this happened, and — and I do feel responsible. (crying) … I wish I could go back and change everything. … I wouldn’t not have purchased the firearm. I wouldn’t have made him take the acne medicine. (crying)
The last person to address the court during Connor Hilton’s plea hearing was Matthew Riley, Ethan Riley’s father.
MATTHEW RILEY (in court): I sit here with so much love—love in my heart for my son, Ethan Matthew Riley.
Ethan’s mother, Tara Riley, stood behind him. They declined “48 Hours”‘ request for an interview.
Ethan Riley
Ethan Riley obituary
MATTHEW RILEY (in court): He is a beautiful soul, full of love and light … You could see that light in his eyes and hear it in his laughter … (emotional)
After that, Connor Hilton was taken into custody. We spoke to him inside the Galveston County Jail the next day.
Connor Hilton (in jail): Just the feeling of loneliness yesterday was unbearable. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I did it to myself. I’m the reason why I’m here. But it — it just — it sucks. …
Ben Bliek playing pickleball with “48 Hours” correspondent Tracy Smith. “Go easy on me, my friend. Oops. See my backhand is bad too,” said Smith. “Yours is not as bad as my mom’s,” Ben replied.
CBS News
For Ben Bliek, everyday life remains a challenge. He plays pickle ball and basketball to help restore his mobility — but he says one person has helped him the most.
Ben Bliek: My mom. (Mom becomes emotional) … She’s always there for me. …
Tracy Smith: Can you explain how difficult this has been?
Ben Bliek: It is very difficult, but pouting about it is not going to get Ethan back. (crying) So —
Shannon Bliek: You just gotta keep going.
Ben Bliek: Yeah. …
Connor Hilton will be eligible for parole in August 2050. He will be 43 years old.
Produced by Stephanie Slifer. Gary Winter and Doreen Schechter are the producer-editors. Jenna Jackson is the development producer. Emma Steele is the field producer. Patti Aronofsky is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.
On Nov. 25, 2020, the day before Thanksgiving, responders rushed to a house fire in Mt. Morris, Illinois. They discovered 27-year-old Melissa Lamesch inside, dead on the floor by the oven in the kitchen.
Initially, investigators were uncertain whether the fire was intentional or accidental. But after taking a closer look, they believed foul play was involved and that the fire was arson. They did not find any electrical issues at the house and learned that the oven and stove burners were all in the off position. The autopsy performed on Lamesch revealed no soot in her lungs and normal carbon monoxide levels, but there were signs of strangulation. Investigators concluded that Lamesch was murdered before the fire started. But why would someone want to kill Melissa Lamesch?
“48 Hours” contributor Nikki Battiste reports on the case in “The Firefighter’s Secret.” An encore of the episode airs Saturday, Jan. 31 at 9/8c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
When the fire occurred, Lamesch had been just two days away from giving birth to a baby boy. She was a dedicated EMT and was excited to become a parent. However, investigators learned there was someone who was not as enthused – the expectant father of the baby, 33-year-old Matthew Plote, who was a firefighter-paramedic.
When Lamesch let Plote know she was carrying his baby, she was surprised by his reaction, says Lamesch’s sister, Cassie Baal. “Melissa thought he would want something to do with the baby. To that point, she thought he was a pretty nice guy,” Baal told “48 Hours.” “She saw a different side of him and that really upset her.”
Investigators learned Plote kept the fact that he was going to become a dad a secret, including from his parents and his co-workers. Rob Schultz, fire chief at the Carol Stream Fire District where Plote worked, explained to Battiste how unusual it was for someone not to talk about a big life event at the firehouse. “We’re here 24 hours a day,” Schultz said. “It’s a — just a normal, uh, course of being a firefighter … that you talk about your family, your personal life, and what’s going on good, bad or indifferent.”
Matthew Plote
Carol Stream Fire District
Although Plote seemed disinterested in becoming a father, Lamesch had sporadically kept in touch with him, even sending him sonograms. “Sometimes he would respond a little bit, but she didn’t know really where he stood exactly,” Baal said.
Lamesch, though, was ready to take care of the baby on her own, with the help of her family. Despite Lamesch not asking Plote for any type of support, investigators believe that as her due date drew closer, Plote became increasingly concerned that having a child was going to alter his lifestyle and that’s why he had kept that baby a secret.
“He was keeping a secret — the fact that he fathered a baby in the hopes that the child wouldn’t be born,” Ogle County Assistant State’s Attorney Allison Huntley told Battiste.
The state began building a case against Plote. He was arrested on March 9, 2022, on charges including murder, the intentional homicide of an unborn child and arson.
There was evidence that Plote had been at Lamesch’s house the day of the fire – something Plote admitted when he spoke with investigators. “He told them everything … about his presence there, he didn’t hide any of that,” defense attorney John Kopp told “48 Hours.” He says his client went there to discuss plans for being involved in the baby’s life. “They discussed their finances,” Kopp said. “And then Matt left as she was making some lunch.”
Prosecutors suspected Plote was lying about Lamesch being alive when he left and that he set the house on fire to try to cover his tracks. “I believe from the very beginning he was trying to set up a story that there was an accidental house fire, that she had been cooking something,” said Ogle County Assistant State’s Attorney Heather Kruse. “Which would explain why her body was found in the kitchen.”
For Chief Schultz, the thought of a firefighter inflicting harm was unthinkable. “It doesn’t chime with what a firefighter is,” he told “48 Hours.” “We put fires out. We don’t start fires. We help people. We don’t hurt people.”
A young woman is found dead in her burning home. She’d been involved with a firefighter — could he have set a fire to cover her murder? “48 Hours” contributor Nikki Battiste reports.
This story originally aired on Nov. 30, 2024. It was updated on Jan. 31, 2026.
Before the fire that set Melissa Lamesch‘s home ablaze on Nov. 25, 2020, the day had started with excited anticipation. Melissa was due to give birth to a baby boy in just two days, and Thanksgiving was a day away.
Cassie Baal: She was gonna have a nice private Thanksgiving with dad. So, I gave her a call the morning of the 25th and we talked for about two-and-a-half hours.
Cassie Baal and her sister Melissa had lots to chat about.
Cassie Baal: We talked a lot about the future. We talked about what was gonna come with the baby. … The conversation ended because she looked outside the window. … She said, “you gotta be kidding me.”… She’s like, “he’s freaking here again. I told him he’s gotta stop doing this.”
At the door was 33-year-old Matthew Plote, the expectant father of Melissa’s baby.
Cassie Baal: She said … “I’ll tell you what he wanted. I’ll give you a call right back, bye.” Hung up.
Nikki Battiste | “48 Hours” contributor: Did she ever call back?
Cassie Baal: No, my sister never called back.
“When Melissa first told me she was pregnant, she told me a couple things about the dad,” said Melissa Lamesch’s sister, Cassie Baal. “Matt Plote … they on and off hung out for years and had a similar clique of friends.”
Photography by Angel Studio/Plote defense attorney
Melissa Lamesch and Matthew Plote met and became friends seven years earlier, while each was in college. They maintained a casual relationship. The friendship, says the Lamesch family, cooled off once Melissa let Plote know about the pregnancy. Melissa told her family he did not share her interest in becoming a parent.
Cassie Baal: He wanted her to get an abortion. She didn’t want that. He blamed her, ghosted her. … It did come to … upset Melissa because they were friends for so long.
Nikki Battiste: She thought he’d at least wanna — be involved a little bit?
Cassie Baal: Yes. Melissa thought that he would want something to do with the baby. To that point, she thought he was a pretty nice guy. … then she saw a different side of him and that really upset her.
MELISSA LAMESCH LOOKS FORWARD TO BECOMING A MOTHER
Deanna and Gus Lamesch were fully prepared to help their daughter with whatever she needed for the baby.
Deanna Lamesch: I had said, if he doesn’t wanna be a part of the baby’s life, you know, don’t push, the baby is your child.
Gus Lamesch: I told her, whatever you needed, I’ll help you financially.
Deanna Lamesch: She knew she had plenty of family support. Everything would have been fine.
The Lamesch family was a large one. Melissa had four siblings, she was already an aunt, and was known for following her own path.
Cassie Baal: Melissa was … unapologetically herself, and that is what she was. … She’s a perfect mix of sugar and spice. … Not too spicy, not too sugary, it was just perfect.
Deanna Lamesch: Melissa was strong. She was fierce. She was a go-getter.
Melissa Lamesch, 27, was a devoted EMT. “My daughter, Melissa, she’s very thoughtful,” Gus Lamesch said. “And that’s why she got into … being a paramedic. … She wanted to help people.”
Deanna Lamesch
Melissa liked to reinvent herself — through hairstyles — and careers. Most recently, the 27-year-old had been working as an EMT.
Gus Lamesch: Melissa kind of fell into the line of work. She had an experience in college that that took her to an emergency room. … And … she really appreciated how she was treated and she wanted to do the same for other people.
Nikki Battiste: You were proud?
Gus Lamesch: Yes. … That was her job and she took it seriously.
As her due date neared, Melissa had to stop working. To make things easier, she moved into her childhood home with her dad. Her parents had divorced several years earlier. Melissa grew increasingly excited about becoming a mom, even though she and Plote had little contact.
Cassie Baal: Melissa would continue to send him like, sonograms or things would happen … sometimes he would respond a little bit, but she didn’t know really where he stood exactly. But … Melissa wanted her baby to have the option of having the mother and the father … so she kept the communication with him. He often shut down.
Plote wasn’t just shutting out Melissa. He kept the fact that he was going to be a father a secret — including from his coworkers and Chief Rob Schultz at the Carol Stream Fire District, several counties away from Melissa’s home.
Chief Rob Schultz: We’re here 24 hours a day. And … it’s a — just a normal, uh, course of being a firefighter … that you talk about your family, your personal life, and what’s going on good, bad, or indifferent. … I knew Matt as … a single guy … that didn’t have any kids.
Even Plote’s own parents did not know about the pregnancy — until Melissa told them.
Cassie Baal: Melissa wanted them to have the opportunity to be part of their grandchild’s life.
Nikki Battiste: How did Melissa say his parents responded to the news of a grandson?
Cassie Baal: Melissa said that his parents were very nice, that, um, they said, let me know what you need, I’ll help you any way we can.
Nikki Battiste: How did Matthew find out that Melissa had told his parents they were having a baby?
Deanna Lamesch: I believe that the parents then approached him … but it was not long after that that she had said “he’s mad I told them.”
Nikki Battiste: Because he had kept it a secret?
Deanna Lamesch: Yes.
Melissa celebrated the upcoming birth with family and friends at a baby shower. She had let everyone know she was having a boy. It was a happy time — until nearly two months later, on that fateful Thanksgiving eve.
Deanna Lamesch: It was just all so surreal.
While Melissa’s family tried to process their loss, investigators were hoping to provide them with answers about what had happened.
Lt. Brian Ketter: The fire debris is everywhere.
Brian Ketter, then the lead detective at the Ogle County Sheriff’s Office, headed to the kitchen, where Melissa had been found.
Lt. Brian Ketter: Everything’s covered in smoke. … Ceilings, walls, have fallen down and everything’s a mess.
Ketter and other investigators also headed outside, to an ambulance, to view Melissa.
Lt. Brian Ketter: We … noticed that she didn’t have a whole lot of fire damage to her.
Nikki Battiste: What does that say?
Lt.Brian Ketter: That the fire didn’t kill her.
WHAT CAUSED THE FIRE?
Michael Poel, then a special agent with the Illinois State Fire Marshal’s Office, was trying to establish whether the fire at Melissa’s Lamesch’s home was accidental or intentionally set.
Michael Poel: We needed to identify the area of fire origin and what may have caused that fire.
Nikki Battiste (looking at photos): What are you looking for?
Michael Poel: Where the greatest damage is at, where the fire patterns are at. … We’re looking at everything and everything in this picture that may have something to do with the origin of the fire.
Nikki Battiste: Where do you think the fire started?
Michael Poel: Uh, I believe the fires over here. Actually it’s in these cabinets — where these cabinets used to be above the stove area.
Melissa Lamesch was found dead on the floor by the oven in the kitchen. Investigators did not find any electrical issues at the house and learned that the oven and stove burners were all in the off position.
Ogle County State’s Attorney Office
But when Poel examined the stove, thinking that perhaps cooking flames caused the cabinets to catch fire, he saw that neither the oven nor the burners had been turned on.
Michael Poel: All the controls are in the off position and there is no fire damage in the interior of this oven to show that this was some type of cooking fire.
Poel also did not find any electrical issues.
Michael Poel: So, we’re starting to run out of accidental causes … And we could identify at least three very simple and easy ways to exit this residence.
Much of the house, besides the kitchen, remained accessible, so Poel thought Melissa could have found a way out.
Michael Poel: It was what I would call a survivable fire. … This young lady was a paramedic. She is used to dealing with emergencies. … For her to totally lose her perspective and stand there and try and fight that fire. … When you start putting all these things together, you start coming up with, OK, this makes no sense.
While Poel was inspecting the house, investigators talked with the Lamesch family. Ketter learned about the phone call that day between Melissa and Baal, that Melissa ended when Plote arrived at the house.
Lt. Brian Ketter: We learned from the family that he … was a fireman.
Matthew Plote was a firefighter-paramedic with the Carol Stream Fire District. “He was a good firefighter,” said Chief Rob Schultz. “Matt was somebody that was dependable on the fire scene. … He was just one of the guys.”
Carol Stream Fire District
Melissa’s brother Karl Lamesch told investigators he had already spoken on the phone to Plote, telling him he knew he had been at the house that day. Karl Lamesch also told Plote about the fire, and that someone had died, but not that it was Melissa. Investigators did that when they asked Plote to come in for an interview that evening.
DEPUTY: Melissa is deceased.
MATTHEW PLOTE: Oh. OK
Nikki Battiste: As you watched his interview, what did you think about his demeanor, his responses?
Lt. Brian Ketter: Emotionless. Very soft spoken. … Matthew said he went … to talk to Melissa. He wanted to talk about money … about being allowed at the hospital when she was set to be induced in two days. And that’s why he was there.
There was evidence that Matthew Plote had been at Melissa Lamesch’s house the day of the fire — something Plote admitted when he spoke with investigators.
Ogle County State’s Attorney’s Office
In that interview, Plote made a reference to a deadline when explaining his decision to go to the house that day:
MATTHEW PLOTE: I mean, there’s a deadline for — for that. So, we were trying to —
DEPUTY: A deadline for what?
MATTHEW PLOTE:For pregnancy there’s a deadline.
It was a phrase that investigators didn’t quite know how to interpret.
Nikki Battiste: Was Matthew, a suspect at that point?
Lt. Brian Ketter: No, He was not a suspect.
Nikki Battiste: What are the next steps in the investigation?
Lt. Brian Ketter: We need to determine the cause of death. We don’t know if — if Melissa had a medical episode or … if somebody did something to her or if the carbon monoxide from the fire killed her, we don’t know.
To get those answers, two autopsies would be performed: one, two days after Melissa’s death, and then another, about two weeks later while lab work was completed. The results: normal carbon monoxide levels, and no soot was found in her system. What was found was evidence of strangulation, including hemorrhages around her neck. Melissa, it was determined, had been murdered.
Deanna Lamesch: We have to plan a funeral and while we were still waiting for things, it was nearly three weeks.
Melissa Lamesch was two days away from delivering her son when she and her unborn baby died.
Photography by Angel Studio
On Dec. 14, 2020, the Lamesch family held a funeral for Melissa and her unborn baby, whom Melissa was going to name Barrett.
Deanna Lamesch: We didn’t get to kiss his forehead, touch his cheek. The first time we got any kind of contact, they were in a casket. And the first time I touched his hand. … I just remember gasping, just (gasps) … and I decided I was going to keep holding his hand, something Melissa didn’t get to do.
Melissa’s family was convinced that Matthew Plote was responsible for their profound grief — that he killed Melissa, simply because he did not want to become a father. Plote, investigators would learn, had been juggling multiple women in his life.
Gus Lamesch: I believe he did it because he’s selfish and it was gonna change his life, having a child.
Nikki Battiste: Melissa wasn’t asking him for anything, no money, nothing. He could have walked away. So why?
Cassie Baal: I think it was his pride. … He wanted to keep it a secret.
With no other suspects, and with Plote admitting to being at Melissa’s home that day, investigators were also circling in on Plote, but were still gathering evidence.
Lt. Brian Ketter: We had collected DNA evidence at the autopsy and we sent that to the crime lab. We had gotten search warrants for phone records. We were in the process of getting that information back.
They were also waiting to get information back from Amazon, about possible recordings from an Echo Dot that Ketter had noticed and was retrieved from the fire damaged kitchen.
Lt. Brian Ketter: We were hoping it would record conversations or … something from the day … between the two of them.
Nikki Battiste: That Amazon Echo Dot could turn this case around.
Lt. Brian Ketter: Could have — it could have recorded Melissa screaming for help, yelling out his name. … We didn’t know what it would be.
QUESTIONING MATTHEW PLOTE
When Carol Stream Fire Chief Rob Schultz returned the call, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Chief Rob Schultz: I was contacted by our police chief … to give him a call immediately that he had something very important, sensitive to talk about. … One of our firefighters was being investigated .. as a suspect in a murder that occurred … about two hours from our fire district’s boundaries.
It was now nine months since Melissa Lamesch’s death in a house fire that had sent shockwaves through the community in Mt. Morris where her home was located. But firefighters where Matthew Plote worked in Carol Stream, about 75 miles away, were unaware of the fire. Plote had said nothing.
Nikki Battiste: When you heard the name Matthew Plote in that call, what did you think?
Chief Rob Schultz: I was you know … there is no way this could be Matt …they have something wrong here.
But that disbelief started to change when Chief Schultz checked to see if Plote worked the day of fire and learned he had called out sick.
Chief Rob Schultz: The knot in my stomach, like literally wanted to throw up.
The fire chief’s sinking feeling only got worse when he learned that investigators believed Plote killed Melissa and their unborn child because he did not want to be a father — and then set the house on fire in hopes of destroying evidence.
Chief Rob Schultz: We had placed Matt immediately on paid administrative leave. … When I called Matt in to — to tell him I just said … “I’m being told that you’re under investigation for a murder of … your estranged girlfriend and the baby that you’re a father of.”
Nikki Battiste: Did you ask him why he hadn’t mentioned it?
Chief Rob Schultz: Didn’t feel that it was, uh, something that he wanted to talk about and … he felt it was a personal matter and didn’t want to disclose it.
While on leave, on Aug. 28, 2021, Plote was called in again for questioning. (BRIAN KETTER 209.01/00:11 My name is Brian. I’m a lieutenant with the sheriff’s office.) Plote willingly appeared without an attorney.
MATTHEW PLOTE (Sheriff’s Office interview): I wanted to contribute to the — in the life of our child.
Over the course of the seven-hour interview, he explained to investigators why he was at Melissa’s the day of the fire.
MATTHEW PLOTE (Sheriff’s Office interview): So, we talked about, you know, what I could pay her and that we’d — we just said we’d work it out later to visiting.
He said when he left that afternoon, Melissa was talking about making lunch.
MATTHEW PLOTE (Sheriff’s Office interview): She talked about cooking some food or something, but I — I didn’t stay around.
Most of the seven hours was filled with investigators asking questions and Plote saying very little.
LT. BRIAN KETTER (to Plote): So, did you go there to kill her, or did you just go there to talk to her and something happened?
Lt. Brian Ketter: We kept … accusing him of things … and he never said I didn’t do it. … He never said you guys got the wrong person. … He was just emotionless and he wouldn’t communicate. … Not once in seven hours, not once did he get upset. … Most people would’ve told us … I’m done, but he just sat and listened to us.
Nikki Battiste: Had you ever experienced an interview … like that before?
Brian Ketter: Never.
During questioning, Matthew Plote said very little, but told investigators, “I had no intention of hurting Melissa” after being asked if he intended to kill her.
Ogle County State’s Attorney’s Office
It wasn’t just the lack of communication that made Ketter think Plote was guilty, but on the rare times Plote did talk, the unusual way he phrased things.
LT. BRIAN KETTER Did you intend to kill her?
MATTHEW PLOTE: I had no intention of hurting Melissa.
Lt. Brian Ketter: During that seven-hour interview, at one point, Matthew did say ” I had no intentions of hurting Melissa.”
Nikki Battiste: Did that make you do a double take?
Lt. Brian Ketter: Yes. ‘Cause in our opinion, that means I hurt Melissa, but I didn’t intend to do it.
But it was not an admission of guilt, so Ketter wanted to see if Plote would say anything more and made an unusual request of Fire Chief Schultz.
Lt. Brian Ketter: We asked Chief Schultz if he would wear a … listening device. So that he would have a conversation with Matthew, we would be able to hear it and record it and try to gain some evidence that way.
Chief Rob Schultz: When Brian asks this of me, I’m pretty taken aback … And initially I said, “no way,” and I did some thinking about it and called him back and said “yes.”
Nikki Battiste: You have a lot of responsibilities as a fire chief, but I can’t imagine you ever thought wearing a wiretap would be one of them.
Chief Rob Schultz: No. … and I don’t freely talk about it … It’s not something that I’m proud of. It was something that needed to be done in the hopes of helping the investigation. … There’s a grieving family out there that’s looking for answers.
So, on Sept. 9, 2021, Chief Schultz called Matthew Plote and asked him to come in to talk.
Chief Rob Schultz: And he agreed. He says,” I’d like to come talk to you.”
Plote came in later that day. The fire station was quickly cleared of all other personnel, and Ketter and other investigators headed over. They were able to place a device that just recorded audio on a phone on Fire Chief’s Schultz’ desk and listened in from outside the fire station and from an adjoining office.
Nikki Battiste: How were you feeling?
Chief Rob Schultz: Nervous. Very nervous. A bit scared.
Schultz tried to learn what happened to Melissa, by appealing to Plote on a personal level.
ROB SCHULTZ (to Plote): I’m trying to find answers and I’m trying to help you. … Help me — help me — walk through — I mean, what — what happened?
But the nearly two-hour conversation yielded very little info from Plote, with him again barely speaking about the day Melissa died.
Chief Rob Schultz: I remember saying … “fill in all the blanks for me.” … And “isn’t it odd that no one here knows that you’re going to be a father.” Like that’s — that’s something we celebrate here.
Nikki Battiste: What did he say?
Chief Rob Schultz: Nothing. … Uh, head was down, uh, a lot of the conversation.
Nikki Battiste: Did he ever say I didn’t kill Melissa and my baby?
Chief Rob Schultz: He did not.
With none of the interviews resulting in a confession, there was still no arrest — something that exasperated the Lamesch family.
Gus Lamesch: It was excruciating. And, I mean, we were pestering the police constantly.
There were several reasons for the delay. There was the wait for the fire marshal’s report — which concluded that “the fire cause is most likely incendiary in nature, possibly the result of a fire being intentionally set in an effort to conceal a potential homicide.” And getting information from Amazon on whether Plote’s voice was recorded on that Echo Dot they retrieved from the kitchen took time.
Lt. Brian Ketter: It did reveal voices, but nothing that proved helpful for our case. … It wasn’t even on the day of the murder.
Investigators had also waited to obtain Plote’s DNA until after the August 2021 interview, hoping he would first confess to killing Melissa.
Lt. Brian Ketter: We got the results back saying … that it was his DNA … under her fingernails.
Matthew Plote was arrested and charged more than a year after Melissa Lamesch’s death.
Ogle County Sheriff’s Department
On March 9, 2022, after a year-and-a-half of investigating Melissa Lamesch’s death, Matthew Plote was arrested on charges including murder, the intentional homicide of an unborn child and arson.
John Kopp: The motive that the State painted, was … just an inaccurate portrayal of Matt. By the time of Matthew Plote’s arrest, he had hired attorney John Kopp.
John Kopp: They painted him to be this monster that … at the drop of a hat, after a career of saving people, decided to suddenly start killing people.
John Kopp: The evidence doesn’t show that Matthew Plote murdered Melissa Lamesch or their unborn child.
MATTHEW PLOTE ON TRIAL
Allison Huntley: Melissa Lamesch was loved. … This is not someone who had enemies lined up around the block who wanted to see her deceased. Rather, there was one person and one person only … and that was Matthew Plote.
Assistant State’s Attorneys Allison Huntley and Heather Kruse were part of the team prosecuting Matthew Plote.
Heather Kruse: All signs pointed toward Matthew Plote from the very beginning.
John Kopp: What we wanted to portray to the jury is that he was a — a guy … saving lives for his entire career.
Defense attorneys John Kopp and Liam Dixon say their client was misunderstood — and as a firefighter, was a responsible person, not a murderer.
John Kopp: Matt’s plan was to financially support her. He had offered her money before. … His plan was to be there.
Plote pleaded not guilty to all charges. On March 18, 2024, more than three years since Melissa’s murder, his trial began in Ogle County, Illinois. The prosecution argued that Plote murdered Melissa and their unborn child because he didn’t want to be a father.
Allison Huntley : He was keeping a secret — the fact that he fathered a baby — in the hopes that the child wouldn’t be born.
The defense told the jury there’s no evidence Plote harmed Melissa, and that he had gone to see her that day just to talk.
John Kopp: They discussed their finances; they discussed what would happen with the birth of the child … and then Matt left as she was making some lunch.
Heather Kruse: I believe, from the very beginning, he was trying to set up a story that there was an accidental house fire, that she had been cooking something. … I believe that was how he laid out the scene … which would explain why her body was found in the kitchen.
Fire Investigator Michael Poel testified that he found no evidence of an electrical or cooking fire in the home where Melissa Lamesch’s body was discovered.
Ogle County State’s Attorney’s Office
Prosecutors called Fire Investigator Michael Poel to testify about his findings. He told the court that he found no evidence of an electrical or cooking fire.
MIKE POEL (in court): And you start ruling these — these various different things out.
Nikki Battiste: How certain are you that this fire was intentionally set?
Michael Poel: I’m certain that it was intentionally set.
Nikki Battiste: No doubt.
Michael Poel: No doubt.
During cross examination, the defense suggested that Poel was unsure of his findings, citing language in his report such as “most likely” and “it is believed.”
JOHN KOPP (in court): You used the phrase “it is believed” because that’s an uncertain opinion. Correct?
MICHAEL POEL: It’s the way I described it.
JOHN KOPP: But that’s an uncertain opinion. Correct?
MICHAEL POEL: Not to me.
Poel says he was just using standard terms used during fire investigations.
The State also called forensic pathologist Dr. Amanda Youmans, who had performed one of the autopsies.
DR. AMANDA YOUMANS (in court): There was no soot in her airways … And her … measure of carbon monoxide in the blood was within normal limits. So she was deceased prior to the fire.
Youmans testified that Melissa’s body showed evidence of a violent struggle. The jury heard about the hemorrhages around Melissa’s neck — a specific type of broken blood vessels called “petechial hemorrhages” which according to Youmans, is a telltale sign of strangulation.
DR. AMANDA YOUMANS (in court): This is the most petechial hemorrhages I’ve ever seen in a strangulation case.
Deanna Lamesch: To sit through trial was beyond devastating.
Deanna Lamesch came to court every day.
Deanna Lamesch: I had been prepped by the victims’ advocate. … Things were going to be gruesome. I was going to see a lot.
Deanna Lamesch says she always kept Melissa and her baby Barrett in her thoughts.
Deanna Lamesch: She was so strong-willed and had such pride. That baby was gonna be a strong guy.
Plote’s parents also attended the trial.
Nikki Battiste: They’ve been by his side throughout this?
John Kopp: Yes. Every court date.
One of the most important witnesses to testify was Melissa’s sister, Cassie Baal, talking about the day Melissa died and that call which Baal says was interrupted by Plote.
ALLISON HUNTLEY (in court): What was the last thing your sister said to you during that phone call?
CASSIE BAAL: Sorry (emotional).She said she would make the conversation quick and she would call me right back.
ALLISON HUNTLEY: Did Melissa call you back?
CASSIE BAAL: No.
Jurors watched those recorded interviews with investigators, where Plote admitted he was at the house.
DEPUTY: How long were you at the house?
MATTHEW PLOTE: It wasn’t more than an hour I don’t think
Prosecutors wanted jurors to hear that phrase Plote used —
MATTHEW PLOTE: I mean, there’s a deadline for — for that.
— referring to the birth of his son as a “deadline.”
Allison Huntley: He said, there’s a deadline to these kinds of things. That was his deadline to murder Melissa.
Heather Kruse: So, if you think about it logically, Thursday’s Thanksgiving and Friday is her due date, his deadline. The only time to do this was Wednesday. So he took off work and completed his goal.
The prosecutors found even more telling what Plote didn’tsay — especially during that seven-hour interview — four hours of which were played for the jury.
Allison Huntley: What is chilling … is the fact that he never denied murdering Melissa. And he never denied killing her baby boy, not one time. It’s chilling from a personal perspective, but that’s also excellent evidence that the defendant couldn’t bring himself to lie about that fact.
John Kopp: Over the course of multiple interviews for several hours, he was calm and reserved.
His silence, the defense says, actually points to his innocence — not his guilt.
Prosecutors wanted jurors to hear that phrase Plote used —
MATTHEW PLOTE: I mean, there’s a deadline for — for that.
— referring to the birth of his son as a “deadline.”
Allison Huntley: He said, there’s a deadline to these kinds of things. That was his deadline to murder Melissa.
Heather Kruse: So, if you think about it logically, Thursday’s Thanksgiving and Friday is her due date, his deadline. The only time to do this was Wednesday. So he took off work and completed his goal.
The prosecutors found even more telling what Plote didn’tsay — especially during that seven-hour interview — four hours of which were played for the jury.
Allison Huntley: What is chilling … is the fact that he never denied murdering Melissa. And he never denied killing her baby boy, not one time. It’s chilling from a personal perspective, but that’s also excellent evidence that the defendant couldn’t bring himself to lie about that fact.
John Kopp: Over the course of multiple interviews for several hours, he was calm and reserved.
His silence, the defense says, actually points to his innocence — not his guilt.
QUESTIONING THE INVESTIGATION
John Kopp: The State’s expert didn’t do a fraction of what he should have done to properly determine the cause of the fire. … This should have been an undetermined fire.
To try to poke holes in the prosecution’s case, the defense called only one witness: retired firefighter and independent inspector John Knapp. He was not at the scene of the fire but did study reports and photos.
JOHN KNAPP (in court): I felt like there was probably more information that could have been gathered that wasn’t …
He disputed the prosecution’s claim that Plote set the fire. He testified that the evidence collected doesn’t prove that the fire was intentionally set byanyone.
JOHN KNAPP (in court): I couldn’t make that determination to whether or not — what the cause of the fire should be other than undetermined.
Michael Poel: When you’re not there at the scene, you don’t see what we’ve seen, not always does every little tidbit end up in a report.
Poel says the defense’s expert is wrong, and that his investigation was thorough.
Michael Poel: We’re looking for anything and everything that could have contributed to the origins of this fire. … They weren’t there. … You needed to be there when we were doing the examination.
Plote waived his right to testify. During closing arguments, the defense accused investigators of having tunnel vision.
John Kopp: The complete lack of investigation … of any other individual is shocking. I’ve never seen such a poorly investigated case.
Liam Dixon: They didn’t follow-up on any other leads that may have happened. Any other boyfriends, any other — anybody else.
Allison Huntley: If there had been another lead, investigators certainly would’ve followed it. There simply wasn’t..
Prosecutors told the jury that the evidence was clear: Melissa Lamesch was strangled to death by the only person who had a motive to kill her, Matthew Plote, who was juggling multiple women and didn’t want to change his lifestyle.
Allison Huntley: He clearly … did not want to be involved in this baby’s life. This is someone who actively hid the fact that a woman in the community was carrying his child.
John Kopp: He … clearly had made some choices about having … multiple relationships but did not make him a killer.
The trial lasted a week. After two hours of deliberation, the jury returned with a verdict: guilty of all charges.
Deanna Lamesch: I could hear people sobbing and gasping … but like, I — I couldn’t even lift my head …
Nikki Battiste: What did you feel?
Deanna Lamesch: Shock. Shock.
The verdict was a relief for Chief Schultz. He says the case had long weighed on him and everyone at the firehouse who had worked with Plote.
Chief Rob Schultz: There was a huge closure here when Matt was found guilty. … You still have the family out there that lost a daughter or lost a grandson … You’re never going to change that.
Three months later, on June 27, 2024, Melissa’s family and friends gathered at the courthouse for sentencing. Plote listened with little reaction as victim impact statements were read:
GUS LAMESCH (in court): We lost Melissa in the prime of her life. … Melissa and Barrett should still be alive and enjoying life with her loving family.
Cassie Baal looks at Matthew Plote, foreground left, as she gave her victim impact statement at Plote’s sentencing.
CBS News
CASSIE BAAL (in court): I shouldn’t have spent Thanksgiving that year feeling like there was nothing to be thankful for. … This shouldn’t be real, but it is real. It is all real because one man decided to make the decision that Barrett and Melissa weren’t needed or wanted.
DEANNA LAMESCH (in court): None of this had to happen, all he had to do was walk away.
Plote also addressed the court with this brief statement:
MATTHEW PLOTE (in court): To say anything other than I share the pain and the sadness and the loss of Melissa and Barrett.
Nikki Battiste: Do you believe him?
Gus Lamesch: Oh, no, definitely not.
Cassie Baal: For him to … say, “I too have pain and loss for Melissa and Barrett,” like that — what a joke.
Judge John Roe imposed the maximum sentence: life behind bars.
Nikki Battiste: Matthew Plote will likely die in prison. Does that give you any sort of peace?
Deanna Lamesch: No. … I know it’s the justice system and we received our justice, but nothing about this is just. Nothing about this is fair. No punishment in the world brings them back.
Melissa’s sister Julialyn Shedd tries to hold onto fond memories.
Julialyn Shedd: I miss her personality. … I think it’s her sass. … Melissa was — I believe still is the best person that I’ve ever met.
“Melissa was … unapologetically herself, and that is what she was,” Cassie Baal said of her sister. “She’s a perfect mix of sugar and spice. … Not too spicy, not too sugary. It was just perfect.”
Photography by Angel Studio
Nikki Battiste: What do you miss most about your daughter and there’s a grandson you never got to meet?
Gus Lamesch: Where do you start. I mean … he was gonna come into my home. … I was looking forward to raising him.
Through all of their grief, the Lamesch family honors Melissa in many ways.
Deanna Lamesch: We took toys to a local homeless shelter.
Nikki Battiste: To honor Barrett?
Deanna Lamesch: To honor Barrett. … We donated money to the no-kill shelter that Melissa got her cat from.
They also sponsored a tree at a local arboretum that Melissa loved.
Deanna Lamesch: Every year … at the holidays, this tree will always be lit as part of their display.
Shining brightly, like Melissa always did.
Cassie Baal: Melissa was strong. She was fierce. She was powerful. Nothing was gonna stop her. And she was always gonna prove herself and she’d do whatever it take to do it.
“48 HOURS” POST MORTEM
“48 Hours” contributor Nikki Battiste and producer Ruth Chenetz discuss the relationship between Melissa Lamesch and Matthew Plote, the defense’s attempt to cast doubt on the investigation, and the touching story of how Melissa’s family discovered the name she had chosen for her soon-to-be-born baby boy.
Produced by Ruth Chenetz and Emily Wichick Hourihane. Michelle Sigona is the development producer. Michael Baluzy and Phil Tangel are the editors. Anthony Batson is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.
When first responders arrived at Katlyn Lyon Montgomery’s apartment and discovered her unconscious, they suspected a drug overdose. Her roommate, Jacob Piercy, had called 911 after Montgomery’s daughter, Milani, alerted him that there was something wrong with her mother.
But as “48 Hours” correspondent Erin Moriarty reports, there was no overdose, and investigators soon uncovered Katlyn had been murdered, in “The Sneak Attack on Katlyn Lyon” airing Saturday, Jan. 31, at 10/9c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
When Montgomery arrived at the hospital in the early morning hours of Jan. 7, 2022, medical staff noticed injuries forming on her head and neck. Lead investigator Robbie Burnette with Virginia’s Bedford County Sheriff’s Office focused on documenting those injuries. At the apartment, investigator Michelle Alderson found what may have caused those injuries on Montgomery’s neck: a multiple charging cord adapter wrapped up in Katlyn’s comforter.
The charging cord found wrapped in Katlyn Lyon Montgomery’s comforter.
Bedford County Sheriff’s Office
Investigators turned to Piercy, as he was the only other adult in the apartment and there was no sign of a break-in.
“So, we were looking at him … pretty heavy at first … he was our No. 1 suspect at that point,” Burnette told Moriarty.
Burnette said Piercy was cooperative, handing over his phone and agreeing to be interviewed several times. Police soon cleared Piercy after his story checked out, and investigators say he could be heard on the 911 call doing CPR and trying to save Montgomery.
Investigators learned Montgomery had recently broken up with a man named Trenton Frye. They spoke with Katlyn’s family and friends to find out more about the relationship. Her brother, Jake Lyon, said at first, Frye seemed like an impressive guy.
“And did she get the impression that he was pretty successful and ran a couple of businesses …” Moriarty asked Lyon.
“Definitely. Yeah, I think everybody was kind of under that impression,” he replied.
Montgomery’s friend, Hannah McDowell, says Frye was a good match for Katlyn, who was looking for a man that she could live with, marry and have children with. “She wanted someone that was supportive … and be a father to Milani, as well,” said McDowell.
Montgomery and Frye had plans to move in together, and Frye offered to find them an apartment in his native North Carolina.
But in early September 2022, he confessed he couldn’t find an apartment because he lacked the credit and source of income to qualify. Montgomery’s aunt, Sherry Cox, said, “Katlyn called me from work and she was screaming … bawling … she was like, ‘He’s a liar, he lied about everything, he doesn’t have a job … that’s not his car he’s driving, he’s driving his mom’s car … he’s living in his car, he doesn’t have a place.’”
Like Cox, Lyon remembered that his sister “realized that he was kind of a con artist” and asserted Frye “always talked a big game about how successful he was and all of his companies that he ran or owned … he didn’t have anything going for him.”
And like Cox and Lyon, Montgomery’s mother, Crystal Sale, knew that Katlyn was done with Frye.
“So she cut him off?” asked Moriarty.
“She did. She blocked him,” Frye replied.
Now with a motive, and after gathering cellphone data placing him near Montgomery’s apartment on the night of her attack, Frye was taken into custody. As he awaited trial, prosecutors had to piece together how Frye could have sneaked into the second-story apartment and carried out this attack without leaving any physical evidence behind.
Commonwealth attorney Wes Nance pointed to a bench that was found thrown into the weeds behind Montgomery’s apartment. He theorized that Frye placed that bench atop a 4-foot wall under Montgomery’s balcony to “give him that extra foot-and-a-half or so boost so he could actually pull up onto the second-floor deck.”
This theory was still difficult to prove, though, said Nance. “Just because you might have a weakness in your case, doesn’t mean you allow a killer to go free,” he told Moriarty.
Frye’s attorney, Joseph Sanzone, emphasizes that there is no evidence placing Frye inside the apartment, and also urged it would have been impossible for Frye to scale that balcony and break into the apartment without waking anyone up — including the three dogs that Montgomery and Piercy shared.
“Only Tom Cruise can do that as far as I know,” said Sanzone.
Nance points to one key detail during trial that points to Frye’s “Tom Cruise”-like ability, and it came from a name Frye gave himself on the stand: “ninja.”
Sneak peek: The Sneak Attack on Katlyn Lyon – CBS News
Watch CBS News
ALL NEW: A mother goes viral on TikTok demanding justice for her murdered daughter. “48 Hours” correspondent Erin Moriarty reports Saturday, Jan. 31 at 10/9c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
On a beach in Fiji competing on “Survivor,” the reality show that, like “48 Hours,” airs on CBS, Joe Hunter’s grief over the death of his sister Joanna came out in full force.
JOE HUNTER (“Survivor” season 48): I miss you so much. I just miss you so much.
“Survivor” contestant Joe Hunter’s emotional tribute to his late sister Joanna Hunter became one of the most talked about moments of season 48.
Survivor Productions LLC
JOE HUNTER (“Survivor” season 48): I am so sorry for the things I said. … And I never got the chance to say “I love you.” So, “I love you.”
Joe is still grappling with how she died.
DISPATCHER: 911, What’s your emergency?
CHURCH MEMBER: … I think someone’s dead.
A 911 call was made on Oct. 6, 2011 at 9:25 p.m. in Vacaville, California.
CHURCH MEMBER: My pastor just came out of the house, and he’s really, really upset and he told me to call the cops. He thinks his wife’s dead …
DISPATCHER: What’s his name?
CHURCH MEMBER: His name is Mark Lewis.
DISPATCHER: Can I talk to Mark?
DISPATCHER: … Can you tell me what happened?
MARK LEWIS: I have no clue what happened …
MARK LEWIS: Oh, I don’t want to talk about it. … I don’t want to talk about what she looks like.
THE SCENE AT JOANNA’S HOUSE
It was a terrible sight. Mark Lewis’ 36-year-old wife Joanna hanging inside a bedroom closet.
MARK LEWIS (to 911): Send somebody out here quick.
DISPATCHER: Mark, they’re on the way, honey.
14 minutes later, at 9:39 p.m., according to the Solano County Sheriff’s report, a deputy was on the scene.
Captain Jackson Harris reviewed the case with “48 Hours.”
Capt. Jackson Harris: He cut her down … tried to find any signs of life. …There were not any signs of life that were there, unfortunately.
A bathrobe sash had been the noose. The deputy’s report said, “he did not observe any signs of a struggle.” There was an open suitcase and a note.
A note reading “Take care of dogs” was found in an open suitcase in the bedroom of the home Joanna Hunter shared with her husband Mark Lewis.
Solano County Sheriff’s Office
Capt. Jackson Harris: I believe the note said, take care of the dogs.
Had Joanna taken her own life? Mark Lewis, the 36-year-old pastor of The Fellowship Baptist Church, was handcuffed, placed in the back of a patrol car, and briefly questioned.
Capt. Jackson Harris: He provided a statement.
He said his wife “did not appear to be depressed,” “has no history of mental illness” and “has never attempted suicide.”
Natalie Morales | “48 Hours” correspondent: The husband is saying … my wife did this out of the blue. …
Capt. Jackson Harris: That — that was his statement that he provided … people commit suicide for a variety of reasons. Some people keep it to themselves … some people tell the world.
In the report,Lewis said he last saw his wife at 1 p.m. And the church member who called 911, said he and Mark had been outside the house playing basketball and talking about their faith starting at 3 p.m., until Mark went inside and found Joanna dead.
Joanna’s mother, Patricia Hunter, knew nothing of what was unfolding at her daughter’s house that night. She wasn’t called. A day later, a deacon from the church, went to see her.
Patricia Hunter: He said, “Joanna is dead.” … What?
At around the same time, Joe, a Sacramento, California, firefighter, was taken aside by the captain of his firehouse.
Joe Hunter: He said, “your sister’s gone.”
“The day that I got the news will always be etched in my brain,” Joe Hunter says. “I knew right then, he had taken her life. … From that moment on, my life changed forever.”
Patricia Hunter
First, the gut punch.
Joe Hunter: I dropped to my knees.
And then, almost instantly, one thought, one name: Mark Lewis.
Patricia Hunter: What did he do to her?
Joe Hunter: I knew. I knew he did it.
Patricia Hunter: And I fell to the ground screaming, crying.
Joe Hunter: Half of me died right there.
A few weeks later when Patricia and her late husband spoke to an officer, he showed her the note.
Patricia Hunter: I actually laughed. And I said, “That’s not a suicide note.” … She was leaving him. And that was her note to him, take care of the dogs. I can’t take them.
A HISTORY OF ABUSE AND RESTRAINING ORDERS
Joanna had tried to leave Lewis many times before, says Patricia. There was a history of abuse and a cycle that began not long after the couple started seeing each other in high school. At 17, Patricia says, Joanna came home with a black eye.
Patricia Hunter: And I begged her. I said, let’s go to the hospital. Let’s go to the police … and she said, “no, mom, no.”
At 20, Joanna documented Lewis “choking” her and got a restraining order against him. Even so, Joanna returned to him.
At 21, after she reported that Lewis “grabbed my neck and twisted it,” Joanna got another restraining order.
In 1996, when she was 22, Joanna was hospitalized with a sprained neck. Mark Lewis was convicted on a domestic violence charge and according to court documents, sentenced to 36 months in the Solano County Jail.
Again, she returned to the relationship.
Patricia Hunter: She told me that he had reached out to her from jail … Would she come visit him? She did. She fell right back into it.
Joanna was 25 when she married Lewis without telling anyone in her family.
Patricia Hunter: I had to tell my husband, and we just held each other and sobbed because we knew now it would be that much harder to help her and get her out.
Their worry continued over the next decade, but Joanna wouldn’t open up to them.
Natalie Morales: You said you feared for your daughter, but did you ever think he would be capable of killing her?
Patricia Hunter: Absolutely.
That is what Patricia believed. Law enforcement at the scene came to the opposite conclusion.
Capt. Jackson Harris: There is no evidence on her body that another person used force to have killed her.
No homicide investigators were called to the house, the bedroom was not treated as a crime scene, no fingerprints taken, no DNA tested and no phones collected.
After his statement, Mark Lewis was released. Lewis was not asked about his history of abuse or about his prior conviction.
That information was more than 15 years old, says Harris, and not available to the deputy in the field.
The next day, an external autopsy determined the ligature marks on Joanna’s neck were consistent with suicide.
A month later, when the toxicology report came back clean, the case was closed. And so began the tug-of-war between the family and the sheriff’s department that would go on for years to come.
Patricia Hunter: From this moment, when we couldn’t get anyone to listen to us and act on it, we are going to work to get justice for Joanna.
Natalie Morales: Do you think she was ever suicidal?
Joe Hunter: You know … I’m sure she got in many dark places, but in no way, shape, or form, was she capable of that mindset because I know my sister deep down just wanted to leave.
And in the year before she died, Joanna almost saved herself, says Joe. Almost.
Joe Hunter: My mom called me and said, “Joanna’s coming home.” I said, “Oh, really?” “Yeah, she’s done.” And I said, “she’s really, really done this time?” … And I thought, man, like we got her back. We win.
Patricia Hunter: Within two weeks, mom, I — I’m going back. And I thought she meant to get more things. … And she said, no, mom, I have to go back to stay.
Joe Hunter: My mom begged her not to go back. … on her knees, begging her. … And my mom said, OK, well, I’ll drive you.
Natalie Morales: How much do you think of that moment and that drive, taking her back?
Patricia Hunter: All the time.
Patricia Hunter: On the way over … I was sobbing and I said, honey … I’m afraid if you go back, I’ll never see you again.
Joe Hunter: And we never saw her again.
A FAMILY’S ANGUISH
Joe Hunter: Joanna … was the perfect person. … She was the life of the party, but she was also at the same time … probably the most compassionate, warm person I’ve ever known.
From the minute he was born, Joanna relished being Joe’s big sister.
Patricia Hunter: She thought Joseph was her gift. … Someone gave her this adorable little boy and he belonged to her.
“We were the perfect team,” Joe Hunter says of his big sister, Joanna.
Patricia Hunter
Joe Hunter: I always tried to be in charge, but she wouldn’t let that happen. … Anybody that called the house … they had to go through Joanna first. … “and you wanna talk to my brother? Why?” (laughs) … She protected me a lot. … we were the perfect team.
Mark Lewis, the son of a local preacher, was Joanna’s first boyfriend. At the start, Joe didn’t think he had anything to worry about.
Joe Hunter: The first, maybe six to eight months, she seemed really happy.
But after the abuse began, Joe confronted Mark more than once.
Joe Hunter: After physically going after him … him then taking it out on her. … I had to back off a little bit from my sister. … I had been screaming at her for so long, two years straight. … I hate this guy, leave this guy, please stop. … I thought I’m gonna lose her for good. … So, I’m just gonna listen. … And then I really got the deep, deep, deep, dark secrets that she wasn’t even telling my parents.
And Joanna showed him her wounds.
Joe Hunter: She finally showed me … the massive indentations from him strangling her … you could just see clearly each outline of each finger.
Mark Lewis had grown more powerful and influential at the Fellowship Baptist Church. He was on his way to becoming pastor.
After they married, Patricia says she went to Lewis with her fears.
Patricia Hunter: And I said to him … how do I know in this moment that you will never lay a hand on her again? … And I’ll never forget. He kind of sneered, half smile and he looked at me and said, when she’s a better woman and a better Christian, you won’t have to worry about that.
Joe Hunter: My sister started saying comments that he would make to her like, hey, we can help save you. Because you’re half black, we can help fix that through religion. Because of your hair and the way you look, we can fix that with religion. … And you just think, how dare you?
Pastor Lewis, to hear former church members tell it, was a commanding and a demanding presence with fiery sermons and an insistence on loyalty.
Pastor Mark Lewis
Sarah Nottingham
Jacob Cantrell: Very energetic, get up there and screaming and sweating … that was his style.
Jacob Cantrell become a deacon there.
Jacob Cantrell: I looked up to him … he was a … mentor … only to find out that I was a pawn.
In hindsight, Cantrell says, Pastor Lewis had too much control over him.
Jacob Cantrell: I couldn’t go to my mom and dad’s house … without asking Mark permission. … I was brainwashed. … he manipulated me for many years and it — it — it — it twisted my brain up.
MARK LEWIS (preaching in church): There’s no accidents with God.
Jacob Cantrell: He can talk his way out of anything including Miss Joanna’s death.
Natalie Morales: Now, you feel that way?
Jacob Cantrell: Now, I feel that way.
Daryl Snedeker: I came to the conclusion that it was probably the closest thing to a cult that I had ever experienced.
Natalie Morales: And he was the leader …
Daryl Snedeker: The leader.
Daryl Snedaker was a deputy in the Solano County Sheriff’s Office and a member of the church at the time of Joanna’s death. He wasn’t involved in the investigation back then. At the church, he says, it didn’t take long for him to lose all faith in the place and the pastor.
Natalie Morales: Was there a fear then amongst the people who attended the church, did they fear Mark Lewis?
Daryl Snedeker: I think the people that were his puppets, I think they acted out of fear a lot.
Natalie Morales: You did whatever he asked then?
Jacob Cantrell: Unfortunately. … You don’t question him.
MARK LEWIS (preaching in church): It’s important that you listen up!
MARK LEWIS (preaching in church): What would you do if you caused your pastor to quit cause you wouldn’t obey? What would you do if you caused your Sunday School teacher to quit cause you wouldn’t obey?
Joe already knew Lewis all too well and the years after Joanna’s death were filled with anguish and frustration.
Joe Hunter: No one was listening to us, no one was believing this.
There were still so many questions about what happened that night. Why didn’t Lewis cut Joanna down or try to administer CPR? And Joe found it particularly hard to believe Lewis was actually playing basketball for six straight hours.
Joe Hunter: You never went inside to use the restroom, get a glass of water … playing basketball for this obscene amount of time … is absurd to me.
But all their attempts to get the sheriff’s office to take another look at Lewis were getting no results — until Patricia got a knock on the door.
Patricia Hunter: It was … a reporter asking if we had heard about what had happened with him. I had no idea what he was talking about.
It was 2014. Joanna had been dead a little more than two years. Pastor Mark Lewis had been arrested — accused of violence against another woman.
Natalie Morales: Do you feel lucky to be alive?
Sarah Nottingham: Oh yeah.
SARAH NOTTINGHAM’S HARROWING NIGHT
On that crisp fall day in 2011 when Pastor Mark Lewis said he found his wife dead, he never called Joanna’s family. He did call Sarah Nottingham.
Sarah Nottingham: He had asked if I heard what happened, he sounded upset. He was crying.
At the time, Nottingham says, she believed in her pastor — Joanna had died by suicide. Sarah says she and Lewis became friends, then began dating about a year after Joanna’s death.
Sarah Nottingham: At first, it was somewhat exciting thinking that … I’m seeing a side of this person that no one else is seeing.
Eventually, Nottingham says another side of Mark Lewis began to emerge.
Sarah Nottingham: A lot of … extreme manipulation, a lot of gaslighting, and a lot of verbal abuse, um, some physical. … A push or a shove. … And it was just more and more.
And then, she says, she discovered that Lewis had been sending inappropriate text messages to an underage girl.
Sarah Nottingham: You know, I’m just like, I’ve had enough, like, I’m done. And he said, I’m not ready for it to be over. … I would just keep telling him, you know, this is, it’s over, we’re done.
Lewis grabbed her, she says, and tightly wrapped his arms around her.
Mark Lewis and Sarah Nottingham.
Sarah Nottingham
Sarah Nottingham: It was meant to be threatening. He squeezed me tight and told me, “You’ve created a monster.”
Nottingham and her two young children were living with her parents in Vacaville as the pastor’s threats, she says, became more frequent and frightening.
Sarah Nottingham (outside her former home): The first time … my car was vandalized, it was actually parked here (pointing at the driveway).
Sarah Nottingham: He had, either himself or had somebody, smash my windshield in on my car.
Nottingham was granted an order of protection against Lewis. But it did not stop what happened next in the early morning hours of Jan. 9, 2014.
Sarah Nottingham: It was three something in the morning. And I woke up to our um fire alarm going off … and there was um smoke filling the hallway. And I checked on my kids.
A Molotov cocktail had crashed through her parents’ bedroom window.
Sarah Nottingham: We were able to put the fire out ourselves. … I had never seen my dad run so fast out the door, trying to see if he could see anybody.
Vacaville Police pulled over a U-Haul van within minutes, arresting the driver and two passengers. The trio quickly confessed, telling police they were hired to firebomb Sarah Nottingham’s house — hiredby the pastor, Mark Lewis. He was questioned by local reporters.
MARK LEWIS (KVOR news report): I never — I never gave them any money to do anything bad.
Lewis was arrested, charged with arson, conspiracy, and stalking.
Mark Lewis was arrested and charged with arson, conspiracy, and stalking against Sarah Nottingham.
Vacaville Police Department
MARK LEWIS (KVOR news report): A lot of people are going to … throw accusations out there. But until the facts come out, why don’t we just wait and see how that goes and let the court decide.
SARAH NOTTINGHAM (KOVR news report): I’m living in a nightmare. My kids are so scared. My — my son knows that this is, this is a pastor, his previous pastor that is threatening his mommy and his family.
Natalie Morales: What do you think you and your family survived at that time?
Sarah Nottingham: Ultimately, death. … When the police came into the house, one of them said this is attempted murder and that’s exactly what it was, nothing less.
Surviving the attack, Nottingham says, helped answer a lingering question about Joanna.
Natalie Morales: How do you see her death?
Sarah Nottingham: By him. … There’s just not a doubt in my mind.
By January 2015, Lewis’ thundering sermons that echoed in the Fellowship Baptist Church were a distant memory as he sat silently in a Solano County courtroom. Lewis’ trial had begun for stalking Sarah Nottingham and hiring people to firebomb her parents’ home.
Joe Hunter: I hear about the arson charge. I hear about the stalking. … But I also feel that he needs to be convicted … for what he did to my sister.
On day three of Lewis’ arson and stalking trial, he changed his plea from not guilty to no contest — meaning he would not dispute the charges against him but also would not acknowledge guilt. Lewis was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Natalie Morales: How important was that development then in allowing you to then go back to the sheriff’s office and demand that they reopen the case?
Patricia Hunter: It was huge, because there was — it isn’t often that you read about a pastor hiring people to firebomb someone’s house. … Because of media pressure, we felt that now is the time where we can go back and say, “Look at Joanna’s case. Reopen it.”
The Solano County Sheriff’s Office did reopen the case in 2014. Remember the churchgoer who called 911 the night Joanna died? His name is Andrew Alvarado. Back then he told authorities that he had played basketball with Pastor Mark Lewis for about six hours. Detectives decided to reinterview him and recorded the call.
DETECTIVE MEHL (phone call): Was anyone else playing basketball with you?
ANDREW ALVARADO: Yeah, a couple other … teenagers.
This time, investigators learned a new detail.
ANDREW ALVARADO (phone call): I left to go drop them off. I guess I had to go eat dinner or whatever.
He had actually leftthe church grounds during those six hours to drive the teenagers home, he says, and wasn’t sure what the pastor was doing while he was gone. “48 Hours” repeatedly reached out to Alvarado but never heard back.
Natalie Morales: So there were gaps of time when he was not with Mark Lewis.
Capt. Jackson Harris: Right. … That still does not change the fact that … the lack of evidence on her body does not show a second person involved in her death.
Mark Lewis was not questioned during the reinvestigation.
Capt. Jackson Harris: He … … exercised his constitutional right to have his attorney, who did not allow him to speak to us.
The sheriff’s office had anotherforensic pathologist look at Joanna’s case. Dr. Scott Luzi agreed with the original coroner: suicide. The case was closed again. And then in 2015, the county district attorney’s office announced its own investigation, which included DNA testing on Joanna’s bathrobe sash. The results? HerDNA was found on the sash along with an unknown male — not Mark Lewis.
Natalie Morales: Was anything done to investigate that further, to … could it have been anybody else associated with Mark Lewis?
Capt. Jackson Harris: That DNA that was collected from there, my understanding is that it was entered into the DNA — I believe it’s called CODIS, the database.
CODIS is the FBI’s criminal DNA database.
Capt. Jackson Harris: It did not come up with a hit.
Captain Harris says the anonymous male DNA has never been identified.
Daryl Snedeker: They should find out whose DNA is on that damn — on that — on that robe.
Daryl Snedeker, former church member and retired Solano County deputy sheriff, says things were missed.
Daryl Snedeker: Based on what I know today, the totality of the circumstances … … I think they did fail that family. And I think if they didn’t follow up and find out whose male DNA is on that night robe, that’s a catastrophic failure right there.
And a team of experts was about to come forward for the Hunter family, offering help and hope.
Dr. Bill Smock: This is a homicide. There is no question.
QUESTIONING THE INVESTIGATION
Dr. Bill Smock is sure that Joanna Hunter was murdered and says he can prove it.
Dr. Bill Smock: Every injury will tell you a story if you take the time to analyze it.
In 2023, Smock was hired by the Solano County Sheriff’s Department to look at the case. He is a medical doctor, who, by his count, has reviewed thousands of autopsies and examined forensic evidence for police departments across the country.
Smock also has been an expert witness in high profile cases — including testifying against Derek Chauvin in the 2021 George Floyd murder trial.
Dr. Bill Smock: What I’ve spent 40 years doing is analyzing injuries, reconstructing how injuries occur.
And where the Solano County Sheriff’s Department saw a bathrobe sash, a note and a suicide, Smock saw something else: something new.
Dr. Bill Smock: There was a braided nylon marine rope three feet from Joanna. … The murder weapon was there in the room with Joanna. … When you look at the photos of the mark that was created on her neck, the only thing in that closet that could have created that was the marine rope.
Dr. Bill Smock believes a braided rope found near Joanna’s body was the murder weapon.
Solano County Sheriff’s Office
But because he was required to sign a non-disclosure agreement, no one outside the sheriff’s office saw Smock’s report.
Dr. Bill Smock: I could not talk to the family … I could only talk to the lieutenant at Solano County regarding my findings.
Here was everything the Hunters had been looking for … but they did not even know the rope existed. Or how Smock made his determination. Smock was eventually released from the NDA and was able to show “48 Hours” using mannequins and red paint.
Smock says Joanna’s neck had two different ligature marks — one is from the sash and one is from the marine rope.
Using a mannequin and red paint, Dr. Bill Smock demonstrates the pattern of ligature marks found on Joanna Hunter’s neck during her autopsy.
CBS News
Dr. Bill Smock: We’re gonna apply the rope … and see what type of imprint it creates. … You’ll notice along the edge that there’s a distinct fabric imprint, which is the type of fabric imprint we saw on Joanna’s neck.
Bill Smock: She was dead —
Natalie Morales: When the bathrobe —
Bill Smock: — when the bathrobe sash was applied to her neck.
Bill Smock: Joanna’s scene was staged. She was killed with a rope, and then to make it look like a suicide, she was hung up by the bathrobe sash after she was already dead.
“I know in my heart that Mark killed my sister,” Joe Hunter tells “48 Hours.” And then he staged it to look like … she hung herself.
Patricia Hunter
Casey Gwynn: Domestic violence homicides are the number one staged murders in America.
Casey Gwinn was sure Joanna’s case was what he calls a hidden homicide. He and Gael Strack are the co-founders of Alliance for HOPE International, an advocacy group for survivors of domestic violence and their families.
Casey Gwynn: If you kill a total stranger … Nobody knows who you are … but if you kill your wife or you kill your girlfriend, everybody is gonna be looking at you as a suspect. … You have to make it look like something else.
When they took up the Hunters’ cause, they believed that Joanna’s history of neck injuries told them they were looking at a strangulation.
Casey Gwynn: The fact is that if you strangle a woman one time in an intimate relationship, she’s 750 percent more likely to be killed by you.
Smock, who works for Alliance for HOPE, confirmed their suspicion.
But when the sheriff’s office agreed to hire Smock, it also commissioned another review. This one by Dr. Brian Peterson, a pathologist and former president of the National Association of Medical Examiners. He disputed Smock’s findings.
“I see neither injuries nor toxicology findings that would support the physical involvement of another person,” the report said.
And after hiring Smock —
Capt. Jackson Harris: Especially in hindsight, I completely disagree with qualifications.
— the sheriff’s office took issue with the fact that Smock is not a forensic pathologist.
Harris also took issue with Smock’s methods.
Capt. Jackson Harris: This is not someone who has their body weight hanging … This is simply draped over a mannequin. That is not how she was killed.
Smock sent “48 Hours” his contract with the sheriff’s office, which requested his “opinion as to the cause and manner of her death.” He also told us the sheriff’s position was “disingenuous” … because “I didn’t agree with what they wanted me to say.”
Natalie Morales: So, Bill Smock’s report, are you completely discounting everything that he reports in it?
Capt. Jackson Harris: I’m — I’m disputing his conclusion that it was a homicide.
And so, what Dr. Smock called the murder weapon was never examined.
Natalie Morales: But where is the rope?
Capt. Jackson Harris: I don’t have the rope. I don’t know. … We also don’t have —
Natalie Morales: It wasn’t tested.
Capt. Jackson Harris: — every electrical cord that was there. We didn’t go through the garage to look for absolutely everything. …
Natalie Morales: What was missed? What about the history of domestic abuse, was that missed?
Capt. Jackson Harris: I don’t think it was missed.
Because three different forensic pathologists — and three separate reviews starting with the original corners report in 2011, the 2014 reinvestigation, and Dr. Peterson in 2024 – all found suicide, Harris maintains that even if they had initially taken the domestic violence into account, nothing would have changed.
Capt. Jackson Harris: And other than creating a hypothetical situation that Mark murdered her, there is no evidence to support that. …
Capt. Jackson Harris: The prior incidents of domestic violence, those were — I’m — I’m — those were not considered at the time of the death. You’re right. But that doesn’t mean that they were the cause of death.
Natalie Morales: Knowing all that you know now though, you said … You would’ve called Mark Lewis’s past into question and you would’ve investigated it differently.
Capt. Jackson Harris: If I — if I could rewind knowing what I know now about Mark Lewis, yes, this would be a totally different investigation.
But there is no rewinding, says Harris.
Natalie Morales: So is this still an open case now?
Capt. Jackson Harris: No, it’s closed.
Strack and Gwinn’s experience with Joanna’s case led them to create a checklist of 10 factors to be considered by law enforcement. They had begun drafting a new law — a law that included the red flags that could signal a homicide. Among them:
Gael Strack: The first one is someone dies prematurely. Well, Joanna was 36 years old. The second one, the scene looked like a suicide or an accident. … Prior history of domestic violence. … prior history of strangulation. … The partner is the last person to see the victim alive.
Casey Gwinn: We’ve never had a case with all 10 that wasn’t a homicide. Joanna Hunter had all 10 factors.
Mark Lewis has not been charged with any crime relating to the death of Joanna. After serving five years for the firebombing of Sarah Nottingham’s house, he was released on parole.
He currently lives in Arizona, works for a plumbing and drain cleaning company, and has married again. “48 Hours” tried to reach Lewis repeatedly and received no response.
So, after suiting up with hidden cameras we decided to go in person.
ADVOCATING FOR CHANGE: JOANNA’S LEGACY
Casey Gwinn: It is our earnest intention that one day, pastor Mark Lewis will be charged with first-degree murder in the death of Joanna Hunter.
With hidden cameras rolling, therewas Mark Lewis.
NATALIE MORALES (hidden camera): Mark Lewis? Hi, I’m Natalie Morales with “48 Hours.” We’ve been trying to reach you.
MARK LEWIS: Oh no, it’s all good.
“48 Hours” correspondent Natalie Morales approaches Mark Lewis to hear his side of the story.
CBS News
NATALIE MORALES: We’ve sent you a couple of letters and correspondence. … Would you be willing to speak to us on camera, sir?
MARK LEWIS: No.
NATALIE MORALES: Did you have anything to do with your late wife Joanna Hunter’s death, Mark Lewis?
MARK LEWIS: (turns his back and walks inside home)
NATALIE MORALES: Mark, please … We want your side of the story, Mark …
NATALIE MORALES: People would really like to hear your side of the story. … We’ve tried to reach you many ways.
With Lewis inside the house, we approached his father-in-law in the garage.
NATALIE MORALES: Hello sir … I’m just wondering if you have any concerns about your daughter’s own safety given his past history with domestic violence? His late wife was found hanging to death.
FATHER-IN-LAW: I — I know the whole story.
NATALIE MORALES: Yes.
FATHER-IN-LAW: I know the whole story. …
NATALIE MORALES: Did you know his late wife, Joanna Hunter?
FATHER-IN-LAW: Yes, I did.
NATALIE MORALES: Did you go to the church?
FATHER-IN-LAW: Yeah, I did.
NATALIE MORALES: You did.
FATHER-IN-LAW: OK, look —
NATALIE MORALES: I know, I know this is a difficult situation.
FATHER-IN-LAW: Well, actually, you know, I think this is really unnecessary. I really have nothing more to say.
NATALIE MORALES: I appreciate that, but I hope you understand there are a lot of questions still that the Hunter family would like to have answers to. And so I’m here simply doing my job giving your son-in-law a chance to answer some questions.
FATHER-IN-LAW: I can feel for them. But there’s really no more to say about it. It’s over. It’s done.
Mark Lewis was moving on with his new family, while his previous one was aching for answers.
Joe Hunter: For years, I was just trying to get to the next hour … to the next minute, because the pain was unbearable at times.
The Hunters, so accustomed to grief, were thrilled when Senate Bill 989 – Joanna’s Law – became California State law on Jan. 1, 2025, passing unanimously.
Senate Bill 989 – Joanna’s Law – became California State law on Jan. 1, 2025. The law contains a checklist that helps law enforcement look for red flags when responding to reported suicides, drug overdoses or fatal accidents to check for a history of domestic violence.
Patricia Hunter
Patricia Hunter: Joanna’s Law … gave us a sense of, we’ve done something wonderful for Joanna.
Joanna’s Law requires investigators responding to reported suicides, drug overdoses or fatal accidents to check for a history of domestic violence.
Patricia Hunter: If there is a documented history of domestic violence, to assume that this is a suspicious death.
Joe Hunter: And that they … treat that scene like a homicide.
Casey Gwinn and Gael Strack, who helped write Joanna’s Law, are using her case to spotlight the connection between suspicious deaths and domestic violence.
At a conference in Denver, they’re guiding law enforcement officers on how to identify those 10 red flags that could reveal hidden homicides.
CASEY GWINN (to attendees in a packed conference room): How many of you believe that this case should have a complete independent homicide investigation? Raise your hand. (Every hand goes up.)
“48 Hours” has learned the California Department of Justice has agreed to review the Solano County D.A.’s decision notto bring criminal charges related to Joanna’s death. The Hunters hope that will move the case forward.
Kayte Hunter: I look at it this way. Nothing can be kept in the dark forever.
Joe’s wife, Kayte, is a sideline reporter for the Sacramento Kings, and a former player in the WNBA. She experienced domestic violence herself in a teenage relationship.
Natalie Morales: have you talked to your daughter about domestic abuse?
Kayte Hunter: In the most basic form. She’s 6 right now. But we talk to her about … how you treat others and how you should be treated. And that will evolve over time.
Kayte Hunter: But it’s also conversations that we have with Jojo, with our son, because it is our responsibility to also teach him what is acceptable behavior and treatment of women. Period.
JOE HUNTER (in “Survivor” talking to Joanna): I’m sorry that I couldn’t protect you from that monster.
Joe’s tribute to Joanna on “Survivor” season 48 moved millions. This spring, he’ll compete again in a landmark season 50 to celebrate the game, which will also keep attention on his sister’s case.
Kayte Hunter: In advocating for his sister, he’s advocating for other victims, other women. … And our daughter’s gonna be so proud of it, our son.
Patricia Hunter: And she gives us so much love. Every day, I feel it.
For as long as she’s able, Patricia will tell Joanna’s story – often at the Sacramento Family Justice Center – a resource for survivors of domestic violence.
“I’m here to be her voice,” Patricia Hunter told a group gathered at the Justice Family Center. “Joanna was light. She was joy.”
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Joe Hunter: So when we talk about her, I just try to light the room up with her.
They hope Joanna’s Law — and Joanna’s light — will help save lives and shine the way forward for survivors of domestic violence.
Joe Hunter: She fought from the beginning to her last breath. So no matter how hard it gets, never give up. That’s her legacy.
RESOURCES:
“48 HOURS” POST MORTEM PODCAST
Correspondents Anne-Marie Green and Natalie Morales discuss “Survivor” contestant Joe Hunter’s mission to raise awareness about his sister, Joanna, who was found dead in her California home in 2011. Joe and his family believe that Joanna’s husband, Mark Lewis, killed her and staged it to look like a suicide. But the Solano County Sheriff’s office says Joanna was not murdered. Mark Lewis has never been charged with any crime relating to her death.
Produced by Mary Murphy and Mead Stone. Michelle Fanucci is the development producer. Emily Wichick Hourihane is the field producer. Greg Fisher is the development producer. Doreen Schechter, Atticus Brady, Mead Stone are the editors. Patti Aronofsky is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Jusy Tygard is the executive producer.
On Feb. 6, 2021, Kevin Jiang, a 26-year-old Yale graduate student and former Army National Guardsman, spent the day with Zion Perry, his fiancée, who was also a graduate student there. The couple went hiking and ice fishing, followed by dinner at her home in the affluent East Rock section of New Haven. Police say that at around 8:30 p.m. Jiang left her apartment and headed off in his Prius to his house, where he lived with his mother.
Kevin Jiang was a 26-year-old Yale graduate student, an Army veteran, and, his friends say, a man of faith who volunteered with the homeless.
Kevin Jiang/Instagram
He barely made it two blocks before his car was struck from behind by a dark SUV in what appeared to be a minor fender bender. Police believe he got out of his car, likely to check on how the other driver was and exchange information. Instead, the other motorist shot Jiang eight times — with several bullets fired so close to his head that the exploding gunpowder left burn marks on his face.
David Zaweski, the lead homicide detective in Jiang’s murder, talked with “48 Hours” correspondent Anne-Marie Green for “The Ivy League Murder.” An encore of the broadcast is streaming on Paramount+.
Zaweski said that one witness told investigators she heard the minor fender bender, looked out a window, heard gunshots and saw muzzle flashes from a weapon. And another witness added that she not only heard the gunshots, but she saw the shooter — dressed all in black — standing over his fallen victim, continuing to fire bullets into him after he was down. Detectives would later recover a chilling home surveillance video that virtually captured Kevin’s final moments alive, confirming the witness’ accounts.
But deepening the mystery was the fact that the eight spent shell casings lying near Jiang were .45 caliber bullets — and they were similar to .45 caliber shell casings found at the scene of four recent shootings in the area.
According to police, a gunman had fired .45 caliber bullets into four homes over the last several months. In those cases, no one had been hurt. Investigators interviewed the homeowners but were unable to find any connection between them.
At first glance, Jiang’s murder had all the earmarks of a violent case of road rage. But Zaweski and his colleague Steven Cunningham quickly began to wonder if there was more.
“It seems a little bit more personal,” Zaweski told Green. “When you have someone laying on the ground and not moving, what would cause someone to continue firing?”
Cunningham questioned the car accident. “Was it deliberate to get him out of the vehicle? Possibly something that was planned?” he said.
“And if he was specifically targeted,” Zaweski continued, “what could have happened in his life to drive someone to do this?
It was a logical investigative avenue to pursue, but after breaking the tragic news to Jiang’s mother and his fiancée, investigators say the portrait that emerged of Kevin was that of a gifted young man who couldn’t have had an enemy in the world. He was living with, and taking care of, his mother, whom he brought from Seattle to live with him. He volunteered to work with the homeless, was deeply religious, and was a former lieutenant in the U.S. Army National Guard. Just a week earlier he had proposed to Perry, which she posted on Facebook, virtually on the anniversary of their meeting at a Christian retreat.
Kevin Jiang and Zion Perry
Facebook
Pastor Gregory Hendrickson summed up the young newly engaged couple for Green. “They clearly shared a lot in common,” he began. “They both loved nature. Zion was a scientist studying molecular biophysics and biochemistry… he was in the School of the Environment. They’re both brilliant and hardworking students,” he said, “and yet they didn’t feel like their accomplishments were what defined them at the deepest level.”
Zaweski and Cunningham knew they faced a daunting investigation. Jiang’s murder may just have been another random shooting by the mysterious .45 caliber gunman. Whoever the shooter was, he was still on the loose.
“The suspect was out there,” Zaweski said. “He wasn’t identified. We didn’t know where he went … and we didn’t know what he would be doing next.”
With few leads to pursue and a vague image of a dark SUV from surveillance footage at the scene, they knew they likely would need a break. And they got one the following day when they received an urgent call from Sgt. Jeffrey Mills of the nearby North Haven police. He provided them with startling information about two different 911 calls.
The first one occurred about a half hour after Jiang’s murder. A motorist had gotten stuck on a desolate snow-covered railroad track outside a scrap metal yard he had accidentally driven into, he said, while looking for a nearby highway entrance. The motorist, Qinxuan Pan, was from Malden, Massachusetts. His record was clean, and he was calm with an excuse that Mills had heard before from others who got lost near that scrap yard. So, he helped Pan get a tow and a nearby hotel room. At the time, Mills was unaware that there had been a murder in New Haven.
But about 15 hours later, at 11 a.m. on Feb. 7, Mills responded to another 911 call at an Arby’s, where employees had found a bag containing a gun and box of .45 caliber bullets. The Arby’s was right next door to the Best Western hotel where Pan had been taken. And by then he knew Kevin Jiang had been murdered, by someone driving a dark SUV similar to Pan’s. That’s when he reached out to New Haven homicide.
It turned out Pan had checked into the hotel but never stayed there. And when Zaweski sent detectives to Malden, where Pan went to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and lived with his parents — no one was home.
Zaweski turned to his computer searching for Pan, hoping to find a connection to Jiang. “We’ll use Facebook as a tool to try and get a background on an individual, who they’re friends with,” Zaweski explained. But there seemed to be no connection with Jiang.
“And so, you’re going down the list of names,” Green says, “Nothing, nothing, nothing, and then you’re like, ‘whoa.’”
“There’s our connection,” Zaweski replies. That connection was Zion Perry, who was listed as a friend of Pan. She and Pan had met each other at a Christian group when Perry was an undergraduate at MIT. And although Perry was barely an acquaintance of Pan and hadn’t communicated with him since she left MIT and moved to New Haven to attend Yale, the homicide detectives felt they had more than a break. They had a potential suspect who was missing from his home. And a possible motive: an obsession with Perry.
“It did seem like there was a secret obsession of Pan’s going on behind the scenes that Kevin wasn’t aware of, and that Zion wasn’t aware of,” Zaweski said. After all, Jiang’s murder occurred just one week after Perry posted their engagement on Facebook, along with previous photos of them dating.
Qinxuan Pan
Qinxuan Pan/Facebook
Investigators believe Pan was also responsible for the four .45 caliber shootings, and that the shootings were part of a premeditated plan. They theorized that those shootings were done to mislead them when Jiang was eventually killed, to make them think his death had been just another random incident.
“He planned it, Cunningham said. “And he knew we’d be looking at these other things.”
“This wasn’t a random incident out there,” Zaweski added. “He was targeted.”
Now, their homicide investigation, and the massive manhunt for their brilliant, tech-savvy MIT fugitive took off. U.S. Marshals joined the case and learned that Pan’s family had access to millions of dollars in assets. Pan was missing, and they worried he might be trying to flee the country. The pressure was on.
“This became so high profile so fast,” U.S. Marshal Joe Galvan told “48 Hours.” “It was just heightened.”
The Marshals galvanized their vast resources to track down Pan. They noticed Pan’s parents had withdrawn large sums of cash, and that they had taken a long trip south with their son right after the murder. When the parents had been stopped in Georgia, they were in the car, but their son was gone. They said he’d simply gotten out of the car and walked away, and they didn’t know where he’d gone. Investigators were skeptical.
“They would go to the ends of the earth to help support and hide him,” said Matthew Duffy, a supervisor of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force in Connecticut. The Marshals focused in on the parents as their way to find Pan. They knew finding him would take patience as they utilized all their surveillance techniques to track the family.
Weeks went by, but eventually, their patience paid off. Pan’s mother finally made a mistake that would lead the Marshals straight to her son. She made a phone call from a hotel using a clerk’s phone. Investigators spoke to the clerk and were able to track that call, leading them to Pan’s location at a boarding house in Alabama.
“They went there with a small army,” Duffy said. “Around 20 guys … he just came out and said, ‘I’m who you’re looking for.’”
At the time of his arrest, Pan had on him approximately $20,000 in cash, multiple communication devices, and his father’s passport. He was charged with Jiang’s murder, accepted a plea deal, and was sentenced in April 2024 to serve 35 years in prison.
Pan’s parents were never charged with anything. “48 Hours” reached out to the Pans, but they did not respond to our request for comment.
Investigators believe that had Pan not gotten stuck on the train tracks on that fateful February night, Jiang’s murder may never have been solved.
“Could he have gotten away with murder?” Green asked Zaweski.
“He very well could have,” Zaweski replied. “If he had not gotten caught up on those tracks … it would’ve been very difficult.”
Though investigators, friends, and family were relieved that Pan had been caught and brought to justice, Jiang’s mother spoke at Pan’s sentencing to say she felt that 35 years was too short a sentence for the man who’d killed her only son.
Perry agreed. “I wanted to address Pan specifically,” she said at the sentencing. “Although your sentence is far less than you deserve … there is also mercy. May God have mercy on you. And may he have mercy on all of us.”
Even four years after Jiang’s death, friends wonder what Kevin, a man of deep faith, might have thought about his killer.
“Do you think Kevin would’ve forgiven Pan?” Green asked Jamila Ayeh and Nasya Hubbard, who served with Jiang in the military.
“Yes, I do,” said Hubbard. Added Ayeh, “Without a doubt.”
A newly engaged Yale graduate student is gunned down by an unknown attacker after a fender bender. Was it extreme road rage or was he targeted? “48 Hours” correspondent Anne-Marie Green reports.
It was Thursday, Dec. 1, 1988, when Deborah Atrops, known as Debe, was found murdered in her car, next to a construction site in Beaverton, Oregon. Debe had been reported missing two days earlier by her estranged husband, Bob Atrops, who lived about five miles away on a rural road.
Deborah “Debe” Atrops holds her infant daughter, Rhianna.
Washington County District Attorney’s Office
On the night she went missing, Bob says Debe, who was then 30 years old, never arrived to pick up their baby, Rhianna, as expected.
Allison Brown: It think that it’s important for everyone to know that just because a case goes unsolved doesn’t mean that it’s forgotten.
Allison Brown is a senior deputy district attorney in Washington County Oregon, who, along with attorney Chris Lewman, joined a team of investigators working on Debe’s unsolved murder. Brown says they hoped talking to the original detectives, witnesses, and looking at the evidence again, might give the old investigation new momentum.
Allison Brown: There were opportunities for forensic analysis that were not available in 1988.
DEBE ATROPS DISAPPEARS
Debe Atrops was last seen alive on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 1988. Bob Atrops called the Tigard, Oregon, police that night at 9:40 p.m.
DISPATCHER: This is Tigard Police. May I help you?
BOB ATROPS: … My wife is running about three hours overdue from a hair appointment. I was getting a little concerned. … We live in Sherwood. …
DISPATCHER: OK, what’s her name? …
BOB ATROPS: Deborah Atrops.
DISPATCHER: OK, and what kind of vehicle would she have been driving?
BOB ATROPS: It’d be a black Honda Accord.
Bob told the dispatcher Debe hadn’t shown up after an appointment in Tigard, about eight miles from his house, at a hair salon called Razz Ma Tazz.
BOB ATROPS: Called and let it ring, ring, ring about 20 times …
DISPATCHER: It would probably be easier for you to make a run down her path to, you know, how she would go … than it would be for us.
Debe and Bob Atrops.
Family home video
Bob says he drove the route and saw no sign of Debe. He called Tigard police back at 10:25 p.m.
DISPATCHER: Why don’t we give it another hour … and, if you haven’t heard anything, give me a call back.
Bob did call back — a third time — at 11:29 p.m.
BOB ATROPS: Hey, this is Bob Atrops again. Have you heard anything or—?
DISPATCHER: No, and the guys have gone out and looked. It’s real foggy out, but they have checked around the area.
DISPATCHER: … Did you go to the Razz Ma Tazz and see if her car was there at all?
BOB ATROPS: Yeah, I did. I drove up there’s no car …
DISPATCHER: There’s no friends or anything she might have gone to visit?
BOB ATROPS: No. Checked. Called everyone I can think of.
But the one call Bob did not make that night was to Debe.
DISPATCHER: OK sir, we have checked around the Sherwood area and we can’t find her car at all.
The dispatcher suggested Bob call the Washington County Sheriff, which he did at 11:34 p.m., and they opened a missing person’s case the next morning. But Debe Atrops would not be a missing person for long.
Det. Michael O’Connell: Even though I’ve been retired for years, it still kind of hung over me.
Washington County Sheriff’s Detective Michael O’Connell remembers responding to the scene when Debe’s car was found. The license plates had been taken off, the window was open and the keys were inside. O’Connell’s partner called Bob Atrops.
DETECTIVE LAZENBY: With you being the husband —
BOB ATROPS: Uh-huh.
DETECTIVE LAZENBY: — we need permission. We’d like to search the car …
BOB ATROPS: OK.
DETECTIVE LAZENBY: And I’d like to know if that’d be alright with you.
BOB ATROPS: Sure.
A few minutes later police found Debe’s body face down in the trunk.
Det. Michael O’Connell: She was nicely dressed. … Still had her coat on … Looked like she’d been placed somewhat carefully in the trunk.
Investigators are seen searching Debe Atrops’ car for evidence. The young mother’s body was found in the trunk of her car on Dec. 1, 1988, in Beaverton, Oregon.
Washington County District Attorney’s Office
Police say Debe had been strangled, and there were no signs of sexual assault. There was mud on her coat and shoes, the front passenger tire and the steering wheel of the car. Law enforcement scoured her vehicle for evidence.
Det. Michael O’Connell: It looked like someone may have tried to wipe down the hood. There were, like, broad clothing swipes, like, someone maybe was trying to destroy fingerprints.
O’Connell and his partner went to Bob’s house to tell him they had found his wife’s body. A witness who saw Bob later that day told the cold case team Bob was “very calm, much calmer than I would expect.”
Allison Brown | Prosecutor: It wasn’t consistent with a grieving, estranged husband.
Debe’s stepfather, Ed Holland, says her mother, Gloria, who was close to Debe, was overwhelmed with grief.
Ed Holland: She broke down … and I held her, and that’s all I could do … She just laid there, sobbing.
Police searched outside Bob’s home for any further clues.
Det. Michael O’Connell: The driveway was a mix of mud, dirt, and gravel. And it looked like … her car may have driven through some of the mud.
Bob had said Debe was last there about a week before her murder. Police took photos of the tire tracks outside his house and collected soil from his driveway and lawn.
Det. Michael O’Connell: Just to make sure we weren’t missing anything.
Police never found any tire tracks that matched Debe’s car on Bob’s property. Yet Bob Atrops was an obvious suspect. But he wasn’t the only man in Debe’s life. Since she had moved out five months before, Debe had been dating—and those relationships were complicated.
Ed Holland: Debe had very good taste and was a good judge of people, but a terrible judge of men. Every man that she seemed to hook up with was a problem.
WHO KILLED DEBE ATROPS?
Rhianna Stephens: It was great growing up with my dad. He was an amazing dad.
Young Rhianna Stephens with her father Bob Atrops.
Rhianna Stephens
Natalie Morales: Do you have memories of him being hands on? …
Rhianna Stephens: Yeah. My dad was very hands on … I knew that I was his number one.
Rhianna Stephens: I remember being at my grandpa’s house with my cousin, going through old photo albums and finding a picture of this woman. And I was like, “Who’s that?” And she just kind of was like, “That’s your mom.” … From that point on, I always remember knowing the story.
Debe Atrops’ daughter Rhianna Stephens says she learned about her mother’s murder when she was 6 or 7 years old. She says growing up, her dad only shared fond memories of her mom.
Rhianna Stephens: I didn’t know that they had separated. … Anything that I had ever heard about her was always good from him.
But things were not always good in Bob and Debe’s marriage. Debe’s stepfather, Ed Holland,remembers meeting Bob, a construction product salesman, and talking to Debe’s mother about how quickly Bob and Debe walked down the aisle.
Debe and Bob Atrops on their wedding day in June 1987.
Darlene Lufkin
Ed Holland: They were still in a courtship when they got married. … I said to Gloria, I said, “This is way too fast.” … She says, “Well, if they’re in love, why not?”
Debe’s friend Darlene Lufkin says, like Holland, she was not confident the relationship had a strong foundation.
Natalie Morales: How long did they know each other?
Darlene Lufkin: Just a few months it seems like. … It takes time to get to know someone. And I don’t think she really knew Bob yet.
Bob and Debe got married in June 1987 and adopted Rhianna the following March.
Because of conflicts in their marriage, just a few months after bringing Rhianna home, Debe moved into her own apartment in Salem, 30 miles away from Bob. Investigators say Debe had soon reconnected with an old boyfriend, Jeff Freeburg.
Natalie Morales: You said he was the one for her, perhaps …
Darlene Lufkin: That’s the one she kept wanting to go back to. … She really, really liked him. And I don’t think he was just ready for that kind of relationship yet.
Debe Arops was dating John Pearson at the time of her death.
By September 1988, Debe had a new boyfriend—a man she met at work—named John Pearson. Pearson was separated from his wife and had two young boys.
Darlene Lufkin: But I remember she was on the phone at my house once with him.She handed me the phone, and he said how much he was looking forward to meeting me and the girls. …
Darlene Lufkin: When Debe was seeing people for some reason, she wanted them to meet me and my girls.
Lufkin says she and Debe had grown close in their 20s when Darlene was a single mom.
Darlene Lufkin: She’s really the only friend I had that enjoyed spending time with my daughters. And I treasured that.
In that autumn of 1988, although Debe was dating Pearson, she stayed in touch with Freeburg. He loaned Debe $8,000.
Natalie Morales: He had lent her money to buy… a car. Could there have been motive in that?
Allison Brown: He was wealthy … So, I think he was happy to help Debe.
Back in 1988, detectives had asked Freeburg for his alibi on the night Debe was last seen alive— and he said he was home except for going out briefly to get some dinner.
Det. O’Connell: He seemed very straightforward. Didn’t hesitate to answer our questions. Didn’t seem to be hiding anything.
Police had also questioned John Pearson, who said he was with his children and his estranged wife that night. Pearson knew about Debe’s hair appointment and gave detectives a detailed description of many items inside her car.
Natalie Morales: John Pearson … told police back then that there was a Burger King bag … as well as a box with cranberries and a child car seat. … Seems like a lot of details about … the car.
Allison Brown: Yeah.
Pearson also told police there “wasn’t enough room in the trunk for a body”and that “stuff would have to have been taken out”… but O’Connell says Pearson had seemed truthful back in 1988.
Det. O’Connell: He was mostly accessible. … Didn’t appear to be trying to throw us off or anything.
And prosecutors Chris Lewman and Allison Brown say there is an innocent reason John Pearson knew so much about Debe’s car.
Allison Brown: They were seeing each other every day. … I mean, something to look into for sure, which is why they did multiple interviews of John Pearson and a polygraph in 1988. …
Natalie Morales: And did he pass the polygraph?
Allison Brown: He did. And he was willing to do it and basically do everything that they asked him to do.
Bob Atrops hired a lawyer a week after Debe’s body was found and declined to take a polygraph. Detective O’Connell says, Bob did not seem very worried about finding out who killed his wife.
Det. O’Connell: He was kind of removed. … just kind of distant.
O’Connell and his partner looked into the calls Bob said he made the night Debe went missing.
Bob told detectives he called the babysitter, Debe’s boss, and her parents while he was home waiting for her. They all confirmed he did call them that night – but there was a hitch. Those three calls were long distance and should have shown up on his phone bill.
Det. Michael O’Connell: That was a problem. Those phone calls were not there.
While detective suspected Bob Atrops killed Debe, they didn’t have enough evidence to connect him to the crime.
Rhianna Stephens
By now detectives suspected Bob had killed Debe. They thought there was no record of those three phone calls because Bob was out of the house that evening disposing of Debe’s car and her body. Police began looking for evidence Bob made those calls from somewhere else.
Det. Michael O’Connell: It involved checking payphones. … We looked at every angle. … We struck out.
They did not find proof that Bob was lying or evidence connecting him to Debe’s murder.
Det. Michael O’Connell: I didn’t like the thought of it just remaining unsolved.
O’Connell and his partner had a final meeting with Bob in 1990—asking him to account for those missing calls, or to admit he had killed his wife. But Bob maintained his innocence.
Det. Michael O’Connell: And then it kind of went dead.
When the cold case team next interviewed Bob in 2022, they asked again about those phone calls and heard a very different story.
DET. WINFIELD: I’ll be honest with you, Bob. Your story that you’re telling us today is significantly different than what you told investigators back in the day … And so, my question is … what really did happen?
A NEW LOOK AT THE COLD CASE
Darlene Lufkin: We spent a lot of time … together. … We took the girls to the beach … went to … music in the park with picnic dinners.
It’s been more than 30 years since Darlene Lufkin last saw her friend Debe Atrops, but she says she still feels the loss.
Natalie Morales: Sounds like you have really fond memories of Debe.
Darlene Lufkin: Oh yeah. … I miss her every day still.
Lufkin, like many in Debe’s life, longed for answers and in 2022 she got one step closer when the cold case team sent Debe’s coat and those soil samples for testing.
There was mud on Debe Atrops’ coat, her shoes and her car. Soil samples and a DNA sample from her coat was sent to an FBI lab for testing.
Bob Atrops’ defense
Allison Brown: The soil was sent to the FBI lab. The DNA was sent.
While they waited, the cold case team continued to examine Bob’s behavior back in 1988, which prosecutors say was suspicious from that first call.
Allison Brown: He calls law enforcement within, you know, probably 20 minutes of calling their friends and family and to us that seemed, a little quick … So, we believe he was attempting to … get his story out there and to portray himself as a concerned husband and try to … develop that narrative that he wanted to early on.
Detective O’Connell says he had the same feeling. Remember, Bob had called police four times that night.
Det. Michael O’Connell: What’s the Shakespeare quote? He protests too much? It was interesting to us that he was calling so frequently and so soon. … It didn’t seem normal.
The cold case team also turned their attention to the road where Debe’s car was found — next to that construction site. Bob’s former boss at Allied Building Products told them he believed Bob had a connection there.
Allison Brown: He was … selling roofing products … we knew, I knew that he was selling products in that area.
In 2022, the results from those DNA tests came back. The lab said they found a mixture of DNA on the collar and shoulder of Debe’s coat.
Allison Brown: They swabbed that area of her coat, because if you’re strangled, that would be the area … you’d have contact with.
The lab compared that sample from Debe’s coat to her boyfriend at the time, John Pearson.
Allison Brown: It’s not present.
And neither was her ex-boyfriend, Jeff Freeburg.
Allison Brown: Jeff Freeburg … not present.
But the lab said Bob could not be excluded as a contributor to that DNA mixture.
Chris Lewman: We can’t say it’s a match. It’s just, it’s moderate support that it’s more likely Mr. Atrops than an unknown individual.
Prosecutors admit, while the DNA from Debe’s coat excludes Freeburg and Pearson, it does not make a complete case against Bob Atrops.
Allison Brown: I think it’s another piece. … There are many, many different pieces. It was a very fact intensive case.
Another one of those pieces, they say, is the mud.
Allison Brown: This murder was connected to mud. Her body was covered in mud, there was mud on the outside of the car, on the inside of the car.
The FBI lab concluded that the mud on Debe Atrops’ tire did not match the mud where her car was found. However, they said that mud from Debe’s car tire was “indistinguishable” from the mud found in Bob Atrops’ front lawn.
Washington County District Attorney’s Office
The FBI lab, which examined this evidence, concluded that the mud on Debe’s car tire did not match the mud where her car was found. However, that mud on the tire, they said, was “indistinguishable” from the mud from Bob’s lawn in color, composition and texture. This is evidence, prosecutors say, that Bob was lying when he said Debe did not come to his house the night she went missing.
Allison Brown: According to the defendant’s interview, she had not been to his house for about 10 days.
Bob Atrops hadn’t spoken to police about the case since that final conversation with detectives in 1990. But in 2022, he agreed to talk to the cold case team.
Investigators asked Bob about those calls to friends and family that didn’t appear on his phone bill back in 1988.
DET. WINFIELD: It is October 19th, 2022 … here with … Bob Atrops.
DET. WINFIELD: You made those phone calls?
BOB ATROPS: Yes.
DET. WINFIELD: From your house?
BOB ATROPS: Yes.
DET. WINFIELD: Using your home phone?
BOB ATROPS: With an MCI card.
DET. WINFIELD: No.
BOB ATROPS: Yes.
DET. WINFIELD: No.
Bob now said he had used an MCI calling card to make those missing long distance calls from home.
BOB ATROPS: Yeah, an MCI card from Allied Building Products …
DET. WINFIELD: That is not what you told investigators. … and you said, “I made those calls from my home phone.”
BOB ATROPS: Yes.
DET. WINFIELD: “Using my home long distance.”
BOB ATROPS: But you dial in, and … you punch in the code and then you can complete the long-distance call.
Prosecutors say Bob didn’t have that MCI calling card in 1988, and what’s more, prosecutor Chris Lewman says, this story doesn’t make sense.
Chris Lewman: In 1988, to make a calling card, you had to input about a 16-digit calling card number and then another six- or eight-digit code. And if you’re frantically looking for your wife, why take the time to do that, and enter all those numbers?
In 2023, prosecutors brought the case to a grand jury—who voted to indict.
Rhianna Stephens: I got a phone call on March 2nd of 2023 at five o’clock in the morning … that my dad had just been arrested. … I was just in shock.
On March 2, 2023, Bob Atrops was arrested for the 1988 murder of his estranged wife. He pleaded not guilty.
Washington County District Attorney’s Office
Rhianna says Bob is a loving dad, and a doting grandfather to her three children.
Natalie Morales: What was it like seeing your dad … front page story?
Rhianna Stephens: It was awful to see the news … making him out to be this terrible person that he just isn’t. …
Rhianna Stephens: He didn’t do this.
Cold case detectives spoke to Bob Atrops again after his arrest.
DET. WINFIELD: My opinion is, you’ve told yourself a story for the last 34 years, and you’ve told yourself the story over and over and over again to the point that it’s become the truth for you … It doesn’t make it true, but it makes it easier for you to tell that story.
BOB ATROPS: I don’t believe that, but OK.
DET. WINFIELD: What part don’t you believe?
BOB ATROPS: A story that I created, I guess. …
DET. WINFIELD: You don’t believe that you created a story?
BOB ATROPS: No.
DETECTIVE WINFIELD: OK. …
DETECTIVE WINFIELD: You just are not in a position to acknowledge that you played a role in her death.
BOB ATROPS: No, I did not.
Bob Atrops pleaded not guilty to Debe’s murder. Attorney April Yates argues it’s more likely Debe’s killer was her boyfriend at the time, John Pearson, than Bob.
April Yates: John Pearson not only had motive, he had opportunity. He knew where Debe Atrops was going to be. He knew about her hair appointment. And also, he knew an incredible amount of detail about her car.
But prosecutors say Pearson had nothing to do with Debe’s murder. Back in 1988 he told police that, about a week before the murder, Bob confronted Debe because he was suspicious she was in a new relationship. Pearson said Debe was afraid if Bob found out it was true, he would kill her. The prosecution planned to call Pearson as a witness in Bob Atrops’ upcoming trial.
Chris Lewman: We wanted to have him testify … because we found him credible.
But that would never happen. Pearson, who had been ill, and had an outstanding warrant for a DUI in Oregon, stopped responding to detectives. When authorities located him in Arizona, five days before opening arguments were to begin, John Pearson killed himself.
Janis Puracal: John Pearson fled the state … He was on the run.
Attorney Janis Puracal was part of the defense team.
Janis Puracal:Police find him in a trailer in the desert in Arizona. When police surround that trailer, he … ends his life, rather than coming back to Oregon to answer questions about Debe Atrops murder. Those are the facts. Prosecution can spin it all they want, but those are the facts.
DID BOB ATROPS MURDER HIS ESTRANGED WIFE?
Rhianna Stephens: I’m trying to be strong for my dad.
In spring 2025, Robert Atrops’ murder trial began at the Washington County Courthouse. Prosecutors worried the jury might get stuck on details they could not explain.
Allison Brown: In a case where we need to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, we’re not going to be able to answer every single detail of what happened that night.
ALLISON BROWN (in court): Remember, the appointment’s supposed to end around 7:15 … By 9:40 p.m., he’s calling 911.
At the trial, which allowed audio but not video recording of witnesses, attorney Allison Brown argues that Bob Atrops intentionally misled the police — starting with those four calls he made to them the night Debe was last seen alive.
Allison Brown: He didn’t tell the law enforcement officials that they were separated, that they lived separately … So, he didn’t actually give them the information that they would need to find her.
Prosecutors noted Bob Atrops called police four times the night Debe Atrops went missing in November 1988, but he never called her apartment.
Family photo
Bob didn’t tell police Debe lived in Salem until the next day. Even more incriminating, prosecutors say, is the fact that Bob Atrops did not call Debe the night she went missing — or ever.
Chris Lewman: He never called her apartment.
Allison Brown: … that would’ve been the first phone call, right? … Someone hasn’t showed up. You’re expecting them. You call them.
Natalie Morales: Mm.
Allison Brown: … not only was that not the first phone call, but he never made that phone call at all.
At trial, prosecutors played Bob’s interview with investigators in 2022 where he explained why he didn’t ever make that call.
DET. CAREY: Did you ever call Debe’s place?
BOB ATROPS: Her house? No … I didn’t even consider that as an option …
DET. CAREY: So, let me rephrase and correct me if I’m right, you never considered calling the place she lives?
BOB ATROPS: Not when she was supposed to be in our vicinity, no.
Prosecutors also want the jury to hear more about the troubles in Bob and Debe’s marriage. Debe’s friend Christy Knapp testified to an encounter with Bob at his house, soon after Debe moved out.
CHRISTY KNAPP (court audio): We went there to get some serving dishes. … We walked into the entry, and he just started freaking out and screaming. … He seemed really, really tall, and really scary. … It was terrifying.
Another friend, Tami Nelsen, told police in 1988 Debe had confided in her that Bob Atrops had choked her in a violent confrontation shortly before she moved out. Nelsen told the jury Debe was still worried about Bob after their separation.
ALLISON BROWN (court audio): What did she say she was concerned about?
TAMI NELSEN: Well, she was concerned that he’d kill her. … And I thought she was teasing to begin with … you know, or she was being dramatic.
ALLISON BROWN: Yeah.
TAMI NELSEN: And so, I turned around and I looked at her, and I saw that she was genuinely scared.
Nelsen had also told police in 1988 that a few months before her murder, Debe was worried about Bob finding out about her relationship with John Pearson. Nelsen later told the cold case team Debe had said, “If anything happens to me Bob did it.”
Allison Brown: Debe is predicting her own murder. She is telling friends and family if he finds out about this, he will kill me.
Natalie Morales: Mm-hmm.
Allison Brown: And she was right.
But in their cross-examinations, the defense suggests these stories Debe told are not reliable and they say Debe had a history of making up false tales.
April Yates: She had told different stories to different people, and these things were verifiably not true.
Some of Debe’s friends say she did tell questionable stories, often about her health. Darlene says she thought Debe might have done it for attention.
Darlene Lufkin: One time she said that she went to work out … her stomach flipped or something and she had to go get emergency help with it … It didn’t seem real to me.
Attorney April Yates says there is a simple explanation for why Bob Atrops didn’t call Debe that night—he had spoken to her stepfather, Ed Holland.
April Yates: Ed told Bob that he had been by Debe’s apartment … and she wasn’t home. … There was no reason for Bob to call.
April Yates: And the next morning, Debe’s parents went to her apartment again, as did law enforcement, so there was no reason for Bob to call or go there. The fact that the state is trying to make something out of that — it’s a red herring.
During trial, the babysitter and Debe’s stepfather testified that Bob had called them the night Debe went missing, which supports Bob’s story. Attorney Stephanie Pollan says the best explanation for why those so-called missing calls weren’t on his phone bill is that the billing equipment was faulty.
Stephanie Pollan: We found the engineer … and he testified that this equipment failed all the time.
But the cold case team believes Bob made those calls while he was out of the house, getting rid of evidence, to help him create a false alibi. And they say it was impossible to check every payphone in the area back in 1988.
Allison Brown: What was significant is he’s not where he said he was, he’s not at home. Why would he lie about where he was that night?
While the state emphasized the link between the mud on Debe’s tire and the soil from Bob Atrops’ front yard, the defense says that this soil is everywhere in the region and is as common as — dirt.
April Yates: This soil is everywhere. … My yard, her yard, the DA’s yard. It doesn’t make us suspects in a murder.
Back in 1988 police didn’t collect mud from Jeff Freeburg’s property, or John Pearson’s. They only took samples from where Debe’s car was found and from Bob Atrops’ driveway and lawn. Then there was the matter of the DNA from Debe’s coat.
April Yates: … the DNA in this case doesn’t tell the jury anything about who killed Debe Atrops.
Attorney Yates points out that the amount of DNA on Debe’s coat that the lab had said could be consistent with Bob Atrops was miniscule—the equivalent of about six skin cells.
April Yates: And this very low level of DNA is consistent with something called transfer DNA … People who have babies and shared custody transfer DNA all the time.
Natalie Morales: So, in your opinion, this DNA was not strong evidence?
April Yates: This DNA was not only not strong evidence—it doesn’t mean anything.
The defense argues there is a much more important DNA result from Debe’s autopsy.
Janis Puracal: One of the very first items that the lab tested for DNA were vaginal swabs taken from the autopsy.
Attorney Janis Puracal specializes in evidence that can lead to wrongful convictions. She says the DNA from Debe’s autopsy does not point to Bob Atrops.
Janis Puracal: The semen came from John Pearson. … and the likelihood ratio … is 94.6 sextillion. … it’s an enormous number.
Attorney Janis Puracal says the DNA from Debe Atrops’ autopsy points to John Pearson – not Bob Atrops.
Prineville, Arizona, Police Department
And she points out Pearson’s DNA at autopsy contradicts his statement to police from 2022.
Janis Puracal: John Pearson told law enforcement that he did not have sexual contact with Debe Atrops in the 72 hours before she was murdered, and definitely not on the day that she was murdered. But they found that semen … two days later, at the autopsy. Everything is telling us that that … was most likely deposited on the day that she was murdered.
And the defense reminds the jury, John Pearson was avoiding the cold case team in the months leading up to his suicide. In its closing statement, the defense says the state just doesn’t have enough to make its case against Bob Atrops.
But prosecutors argue all of the pieces point in one direction — to Bob Atrops.
Allison Brown: Like you hear: motive, means and opportunity, he had it all.
Now, after two weeks of testimony, it is time for the jury to decide.
Allison Brown: We didn’t know if that would be enough or not. … it’s incredibly nerve-wracking.
“WE ARE GRIEVING SOMEONE THAT IS STILL ALIVE”
“I know my dad. … I know his heart,” Rhianna Stephens told “48 Hours “… And I know that he’d never be able to live with himself doing that.”
CBS News
Natalie Morales: What did you think before the jury left to go deliberate? Did you feel confident?
Rhianna Stephens: I didn’t feel confident. I just— because of the fear of the unknown. … I don’t feel like any evidence was actually given that proves my dad did this. … because he didn’t. There is no evidence that he did this.
On April 17, 2025, the jury reached a decision.
Stephanie Pollan: It was six hours that they were deliberating. … we thought that that was a quick verdict and that could be a good thing.
JUDGE OSCAR GARCIA (court audio): My understanding, the jury has a verdict in this case. Is that correct?
FOREPERSON: Correct. …
JUDGE OSCAR GARCIA: To the charge of murder in the second degree, the jury has found the defendant guilty.
Guilty. Thirty-seven years after her death, Robert Atrops was found guilty of murdering Debe Atrops.
April Yates: It was like the room went dead silent … and everything was still in that moment.
Rhianna Stephens: We all crumbled. We are grieving someone that is still alive. …
Natalie Morales: Were you able to say anything to your father in that moment right after?
Rhianna Stephens: No. I —
Natalie Morales: Hug him, nothing?
Rhianna Stephens: I haven’t been able to hug my dad in over two years.
April Yates: We had so many family and friends of Bob behind us. … It was really hard, for them especially, to see this happen to their loved one.
Natalie Morales: I could see it’s hard for you, too.
April Yates: It is hard. It’s hard to have an innocent client get convicted.
Prosecutors say they are glad that justice was served.
Natalie Morales: This case took 37 years to finally be resolved. Are you satisfied that we know the truth about what happened to Debe Atrops?
Allison Brown: Yeah, absolutely … There’s no other people … no other suspects, no one else with the motive. … We feel absolutely a hundred percent sure that he’s the one who committed this crime.
Prosecutors are confident the investigation proved the other men in Debe’s life, including Jeff Freeburg, were not involved in her murder. Freeburg declined “48 Hours”‘ request to comment on the case.
Allison Brown: There just really wasn’t any information that pointed in the direction of Jeff Freeburg … he gave his DNA freely … There really just wasn’t any motive, evidence, or anything else that caused him to be a significant suspect.
And, they say, John Pearson’s suicide was an unrelated tragedy.
Chris Lewman: He had an open criminal case …I believe he thought they were there to arrest him for this misdemeanor warrant and took his life.
Allison Brown: There was quite a bit of investigation that was done by our detective after he committed suicide to show it had nothing to do with guilt for Debe’s murder.
When “48 Hours” reached out in 2025, Pearson’s lawyer declined to comment on the case. Prosecutors say Pearson’s family told them he had wanted to testify at Bob’s trial.
Chris Lewman: I thought that it would be important for him to … relay all the things he knew, including those statements that Debe made back in 1988, that … Bob’s going to kill me if he finds out about us.
As for the defense’s argument that Debe had a history of making up stories, prosecutors say this is unfortunately consistent with life inside an abusive relationship.
Allison Brown: When someone’s going through a domestic violence situation, they are in a way living a lie.
Natalie Morales: Bob’s side of the courtroom … was full. … Did that strike you as interesting?
Allison Brown: It depends on the case.
Chris Lewman: Yeah, I mean, I think he had a large support system and it’s not uncommon for people … in a domestic abuse situation to kind of go unknown as a DV abuser … And I think Bob was good at that. I mean, he was a salesman.
After all these years, Darlene Lufkin says she thinks the jury got it right.
Darlene Lufkin: I had my suspicions all along …
Natalie Morales: You believed that that was the right verdict?
Darlene Lufkin: I do. … I just feel that the question’s been answered now.
At her father’s sentencing in July 2025, Rhianna Stephens made an emotional appeal for leniency.
With Bob Atrops at her side, an emotional Rhianna Stephens addresses the judge at her father’s sentencing.
CBS News
RHIANNA STEPHENS (in court): When I was 8 months old, someone robbed me of getting to have a life with my mom, there to support my every milestone. … Thirty-six years later, I’m being robbed of my father, the man that was there for all of those milestones. … I need him in my life.
Attorney Pollan read a letter from Bob Atrops’ current wife who has been married to him since 2011.
STEPHANIE POLLAN (reading letter in court): “My husband has always been a devoted and loving father to his daughter.”
Despite these appeals, the judge sentenced Robert Atrops to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
Natalie Morales: When you lost your mom at a young age, and you said, now you grieve your dad who’s still alive, how do you make sense of what’s happening?
Rhianna Stephens: I can’t make sense of what’s happening. I just have to live through it and keep fighting.
Home video of Debe Atrops and her daughter Rhianna.
Ed Holland
Darlene Lufkin: She truly loved Rhianna …
Natalie Morales: What do you want people to know about your friend, Debe?
Darlene Lufkin: That she didn’t deserve this … that she was a light that should still be here.
Natalie Morales: Do you think about your mother now?
Rhianna Stephens:I do think about her.I wonder what life would’ve been like. … had I gotten to live … my whole life, grow up having my mom.
Robert Atrops will be eligible for parole in 2048. He will be 93 years old.
Produced by Sarah Prior. Ken Blum and Grayce Arlotta-Berner are the editors. Chelsea Narvaez is the field producer. Rebecca Laflam is the associate producer. Danielle Austen, Cindy Cesare, and Sara Ely Hulse are the development producers. Lourdes Aguiar is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.
It was a cold night in New Haven, Connecticut, in February 2021 when lead detective David Zaweski and his colleague Steven Cunningham arrived at the crime scene.
Det. David Zaweski: The patrol officers had already been out there canvassing the area. They were knocking on doors looking for anyone that might’ve seen anything or heard anything.
Det. David Zaweski: The crime scene detectives were starting to locate all the, uh, shell casings.
Kevin Jiang, 26, was a graduate student at Yale University’s School of the Environment.
Det. David Zaweski: His body was still on scene … covered in a white sheet.
Anne-Marie Green: When you saw the body … what did you see?
Det. David Zaweski: What we could see were gunshot wounds to his upper body and to his head. And you could see stippling on the left side of his head.
Stippling is a burn pattern caused by gunpowder exploding from a weapon fired at close range.
About a hundred feet down the street —
Det. David Zaweski: There was a Prius just parked in the middle of the road with its hazards on.
They quickly discovered the Prius belonged to Kevin. Crime scene detectives noticed a peculiar bit of damage that suggested it had been hit from behind.
Det. David Zaweski: There was an impression that was left on the back bumper that looked like a license plate holder.
Anne-Marie Green: So, this is like a fender bender. It’s not a violent crash.
Det. David Zaweski: No. There’s not much damage.
One witness told detectives she heard the sound of an accident and went to the window to look.
Det. David Zaweski: When they look out, they see a Prius come to a stop and put its hazards on. They see a dark colored SUV pull up behind it and then reverse back toward the intersection. They see the operator of the Prius walk out and approach the SUV – most likely to see how they were, exchange insurance information. When the operator gets to the black SUV, they hear a round of gunshots and they see the muzzle flash from the gun from the driver’s side of the SUV.
Another witness heard the first round of gunshots and went to her window.
Det. David Zaweski: When she looks outside, she sees a subject, wearing all black, standing over another individual who’s laying on the ground. … she hears another round of gunshots and she can see the muzzle flash from the gun as he’s firing.
Det. David Zaweski: But she sees someone standing over another person, which means the victim is already down. And they’re still shooting.
Det. David Zaweski: Yes.
Anne-Marie Green: What did you think?
Det. David Zaweski: There’s a little bit more to it. It seems a little bit more personal. When you have someone laying on the ground and not moving, what would cause someone to continue firing at them?
The detectives were able to confirm these accounts when they got a look at video from a neighbor’s security system.
Det. David Zaweski: It was located on the inside of a window, facing outward.
Det. David Zaweski: We hear the collision between the two cars.
Det. David Zaweski: And that’s when you see Kevin’s Prius pull into frame … and the SUV pulls up behind him. And then reverses out of frame. You see Kevin exit his vehicle and then walk out of frame to approach the SUV.
Det. David Zaweski: You then hear two gunshots.
Det. David Zaweski: A scream.
Det. David Zaweski: And then six more gunshots.
Moments later, the video shows the SUV driving off into the night.
Anne-Marie Green: Can you make out any details when it comes to the SUV?
Det. David Zaweski: Unfortunately, not. … You could kind of get the idea of the potential make and model of it with the taillights, but you couldn’t discern any identifying features.
WERE RANDOM SHOOTINGS IN NEW HAVEN RELATED?
Investigators soon felt the dark SUV and the .45 caliber shells recovered at the scene pointed to a potential link to earlier shootings around the area that police had been investigating. Four times over a two-month span, someone fired shots into family homes – the fourth incident occurred just one hour before Kevin’s murder.
Det. David Zaweski: We had detectives in the bureau looking into each of the incidents to see if there’s any more of a connection to link them.
Paul Whyte (points out where the bullets came in): Two bullets came in from this window and ended up in this wall.
Paul and Nyree Whyte’s home was the target of the third shooting.
Paul Whyte: We had just finished dinner … I had a fire going.
Nyree, a schoolteacher, headed upstairs to take a shower. Paul — an educator with degrees from Yale, Harvard, and Columbia University — was sitting downstairs.
Paul Whyte: All of a sudden, something comes through this window. … then a second bullet came through – you heard the pop and the glass going everywhere with that one.
Paul shouted a warning to Nyree.
Paul Whyte: Get down. Someone’s shooting.
Nyree Whyte: And then I heard bang-pop again and I turn, and I literally saw the frame of the door just splinter.
Anne-Marie Green: And then she yells back at you.
Paul Whyte: Right, that someone’s shooting upstairs.
It was over in a matter of moments and no one was injured.
Anne-Marie Green: Do you feel lucky?
Paul Whyte: Yes.
Nyree Whyte: Absolutely.
Paul Whyte: Absolutely.
Detectives interviewed the Whytes and the occupants of the other houses.
Det. David Zaweski: There didn’t seem to be any connection between them.
And none of them, investigators say, had any connection to Kevin Jiang. But the shell casings from all the shootings would later tell a different story.
Det. David Zaweski: When the casings are sent to the lab, they all came back as matches to the casings found at the homicide.
The casings matched, but Kevin was the only person murdered, and detectives didn’t know why.
Det. David Zaweski: It could have been a road rage incident that turned a little too violent.
Or was Kevin targeted?
Det. Steven Cunningham: The car accident … was it deliberate … to get him out of the vehicle … Possibly something that was planned.
Det. David Zaweski: And if he was specifically targeted, what could have happened in his life to drive someone to do this?
SURVEILLANCE VIDEO CAPTURES KEVIN JIANG’S FINAL MOMENTS
It was late when detectives Zaweski and Cunningham left the crime scene on Feb. 6. They went to Kevin’s home looking to find a family member to notify about what had happened. His mother, Linda Liu, came to the door.
Anne-Marie Green: It’s got to be the hardest conversation.
Det. David Zaweski: It is. They always are.
Det. David Zaweski: You want to be direct and upfront and make it clear. As horrific as it is … for them. … So, we explained to her that he was shot and killed in the area of Lawrence and Nichols Street in New Haven.
Anne-Marie Green: Can she even comprehend that?
Det. David Zaweski: She’s absolutely devastated. She falls to the ground crying.
The detectives wanted to know everything about Kevin and why he may have been targeted that night. Liu began to tell them about her son.
Det. David Zaweski: It was just the two of them. And he was actually supporting her.
Kevin Jiang
Trinity Baptist Church/YouTube
Det. David Zaweski: She told us that he was a grad student at Yale University and was in the Army National Guard.
Kevin was deeply religious. He and his mother were part of the congregation at Trinity Baptist Church. Pastor Gregory Hendrickson knew them both and says that Liu, a divorced single parent, got Kevin through a tough childhood where he was often bullied.
Pastor Gregory Hendrickson: She was very committed to sort of seeing him come through and eventually he thrived on the other side of that … I think he had a sense of … honoring his mom by, as she had cared for him when he was a child … caring for her as she was getting older.
Kevin bought a house in 2019 and Hendrickson says he invited his mother to come live with him.
Pastor Gregory Hendrickson: She was living alone, she was living on the other side of the country, she didn’t have a lot of family support around her and … he … wanted … her to come and be with him during his studies at Yale.
Kevin Jiang had recently proposed to his girlfriend Zion Perry. “Oh, Kevin. Oh wow, oh yes, yes! Definitely! Wow, this is so pretty!” she replied.
Zion Perry/Facebook
Police also learned then that Jiang had recently gotten engaged to his girlfriend of a year, Zion Perry. She posted the proposal on Facebook. This was just one week before he was murdered.
Nasya Hubbard: He was so in love with Zion — you could tell — he didn’t even have to really say too much.
Nasya Hubbard served with Kevin in the Army National Guard.
Nasya Hubbard: I — oh my gosh. … I remember one time … he was on the phone with her and I was like, wow, like you could hear the genuineness and his love towards her. And I was like, wow. I hope I find someone like that.
Perry grew up in Pennsylvania, where she was an honors high school student. The couple met in January 2020 when Zion was still an undergraduate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT.
Pastor Gregory Hendrickson: He said, you know … I met her at Christian Retreat … she is very kind and we enjoy talking and um, just have great conversations together. … then she, uh, came to do her PhD at Yale.
Pastor Gregory Hendrickson: They clearly shared a lot of common — they both loved nature. … I mean, Zion was … a scientist … she is studying molecular biophysics and biochemistry. … So, you know, he was studying the — in the School of the Environment … they’re both brilliant and hardworking students … and yet … they didn’t feel like their accomplishments were, what, defined them at the deepest level.
Zaweski and Cunningham then interviewed an emotional Perry, and she told them she and Kevin had spent the day together.
Det. David Zaweski: They had gone ice fishing and had dinner at her house … and then he left her house around 8:30 that night.
Kevin Jiang and Zion Perry
Kevin Jiang/Facebook
Kevin didn’t get far. His Prius was struck by the dark SUV just two blocks from Perry’s house — close enough for Perry to hear the gunshots that followed.
Det. David Zaweski: She remembers hearing the gunshots, but she thought there was a good five or ten minutes after he’d left to when she heard the gunshots. So, she didn’t think he was anywhere near the area and didn’t think twice about him potentially being involved in any way.
Anne-Marie Green: Did she have any idea who would have done something like this?
Det. Steven Cunningham: At that point, no. Nothing that she told us that she — she could think of.
After speaking with Perry, detectives were no closer to figuring out why Kevin would be a target.
Det. Steven Cunningham: It seemed like just an innocent — innocent guy.
Anne-Marie Green: Did you think this was gonna be a tough case though?
Det. David Zaweski: That night —
Det. Steven Cunningham: Yes.
Det. David Zaweski: — we had a little bit, but there wasn’t a lot to go on.
But just 15 hours after the shooting, they got a huge break.
Det. David Zaweski: Little did we know that we’d get the phone call …
Det. Steven Cunningham: And it was like, wow.
THE MAN STUCK ON THE TRAIN TRACKS
News of Kevin Jiang’s murder spread among his loved ones and closest friends.
Nasya Hubbard: And I was at home and I actually got a phone call from another soldier … And she was saying, I know you guys were close … And then … like, her voice cracked. … and … she told me that he had passed away … And I was like not comprehending what was going on. … So I text him … And I was like, “answer your phone please.” And obviously, he never answered me.
Hubbard reached out to Capt. Jamila Ayeh. And if sharing the news about Jiang wasn’t tragic enough, someone posted the chilling video of his murder online, and his fellow soldiers now saw and heard Kevin’s final moments alive.
Nasya Hubbard: … to this day. … I can still hear him — hear him screaming … I was like, why did I listen to that?
Detectives Zaweski and Cunningham were back at their desks in headquarters, struggling for answers and leads to pursue.
Anne-Marie Green: Day two … you get a phone call.
Det. David Zaweski: Yes.
The call, from a sergeant at nearby North Haven Police Department, was urgent.
Det. David Zaweski: … two incidents had happened in North Haven the night before and then earlier that morning.
It began with a 911 call from a local scrap metal yard around 9 p.m. – less than a half hour after Kevin was killed.
911 CALL: I’m the, uh, security guard at … Sims Metal Management. … I just had somebody drive through my yard here … they didn’t know where they were going. … So I’ve been chasing them around the yard and, uh, they just pulled way in the back, off the property … it’s like a black minivan, SUV type of thing.
Sergeant Jeffrey Mills and Officer Marcus Artaiz responded and spotted that vehicle stuck on snow-covered railroad tracks, not far from the rear exit of the Sims scrap metal yard. They approached the driver.
SGT. JEFFREY MILLS: How you doing?
QINXUAN PAN: I’m stuck.
SGT. JEFFREY MILLS: Oh, yeah. What are you doing back here?
QINXUAN PAN: Stuck here.
SGT. JEFFREY MILLS: What are you doing back here, though?
QINXUAN PAN: I just got it here accidentally, and I got stuck. … Is there any way to get unstuck here?
SGT. JEFFREY MILLS: Uh, the only thing I can do is call you a tow truck.
QINXUAN PAN: OK, cool. Thanks.
A still from police bodycam video shows Qinxuan Pan talking with North Haven police after officers responded to a 911 call about a trespasser on private property.
North Haven Police Department
The motorist was 29-year-old Qinxuan Pan from Malden, Massachusetts.
SGT. JEFFREY MILLS: OK. Do you have your driver’s license on you?
QINXUAN PAN: Yes.
SGT. JEFFREY MILLS: Registration?
QINXUAN PAN: Yes. You can take this. OK.
His driver’s license and criminal background were clean. During the encounter, Mills noticed a yellow jacket on the passenger seat. He also saw a blue bag and a briefcase in the backseat, but not much else.
SGT. JEFFREY MILLS (bodycam): He took a wrong turn. … He got lost, and he thought the Jeep was probably chasing him, the security guy.
Because Sgt. Mills hadn’t heard about Kevin’s murder, he wasn’t particularly concerned.
OFFICER MARCUS ARTAIZ (bodycam): So, it’s nothing you think?
SGT. JEFFREY MILLS: Yeah, he’s —
OFFICER MARCUS ARTAIZ: He doesn’t look like he’s got any scrap on him or anything.
SGT. JEFFREY MILLS: No.
Sgt. Jeffrey Mills: I’ve been on the tracks I don’t know how many times with vehicles that were, you know, called into suspicious or whatever but kids go back there … people always come down there, um, according to the security guard … and they turn around in the front lot and they leave ’cause they missed the highway or something.
Anne-Marie Green: Yeah. Did he look nervous?
Sgt. Jeffrey Mills: He wasn’t nervous at all … He was perfectly calm.
QINXUAN PAN (bodycam): So what — what do you recommend I do? … I mean if I can get it off the track, I prefer to drive — drive it myself.
Sgt. Jeffrey Mills: He was just like, well sorry. I got stuck on the tracks can you help me get off?
OFFICER MARCUS ARTAIZ (bodycam): So how about you get a hotel for the night. We’ll have the tow truck drop you off at the hotel and you pay with credit card and you can arrange pick it up the car in the morning.
QINXUAN PAN: OK, let’s get the hotel then.
OFFICER MARCUS ARTAIZ (bodycam):: Yeah let’s do that.
SGT. JEFFREY MILLS: That’s probably the safest thing to do.
QINXUAN PAN: OK.
SGT. JEFFREY MILLS: OK.
Sgt. Jeffrey Mills: The tow truck came, uh, took a little work, but it got it off the tracks. … he gave, uh, Mr. Pan, uh, ride back to Best Western and I cleared the call like any other call.
But hours later, there was another call to 911.
Sgt. Jeffrey Mills: February 7th, around 11:00 a.m.
911 OPERATOR: Hello. Can I help you? … This is the police department.
CALLER: Uh hello, I work at Arby’s here in North Haven.
911 OPERATOR: Mm hmm.
ARBY’S EMPLOYEE: … we found a gun … and probably like, uh, 10 boxes of, um –
911 OPERATOR: Bullets?
ARBY’S EMPLOYEE: … bullets.
Sgt. Jeffrey Mills: An employee found a couple of bags on the grass at the north entrance here. When they brought ’em in …
Fifteen hours after the first 911 call, Sgt. Jeffrey Mills responded to another 911 call at an Arby’s, where employees had found a bag containing a gun and box of .45 caliber bullets. The Arby’s was next door to the Best Western hotel where Qinxuan Pan had been taken.
North Haven Police Department
OFFICER #1 (bodycam): There were three bags … this one, that one, and this.
OFFICER #2: Got it.
Sgt. Jeffrey Mills: I took a better look at the bags that it came in … And here’s a … blue retail bag with the Massachusetts logo on it and a small leather black briefcase. And it instantly hit me. These are the bags that were in Mr. Pan’s car the night before.
The Arby’s was right next door to the Best Western where Pan was dropped off. And by then, Mills had heard about the murder in New Haven.
Anne-Marie Green (with Mills outside Arby’s): What’s going through your brain?
Sgt. Jeffrey Mills: At that point … knowing … that New Haven had a homicide … they were looking for a dark-colored GMC SUV. Um, now, we’ve got a firearm. And then Officer Bianchi shows me a yellow jacket that was in it … And the suspect was wearing a yellow jacket.
SGT. JEFFREY MILLS (bodycam): So, he might be at Best Western right now.
OFFICER #1: Let’s go over there.
OFFICER #2: I’m gonna go over there.
Sgt. Jeffrey Mills: And when we got here I went in to the front desk and spoke with the attendant there and asked if Qinxuan Pan had checked in. Which they checked and said yes he did … I mean he hasn’t checked out yet.
That’s when Mills alerted New Haven homicide about Pan.
Anne-Marie Green: Do you immediately think there might be a connection with the homicide?
Det. David Zaweski: There’s a very good chance. … the vehicle matched. And … the items that were left behind at the Arby’s restaurant … it included a .45-caliber handgun and that matched the casings that were at the scene.
Zaweski immediately sent detectives to meet Mills at the Best Western.
Sgt. Jeffrey Mills: Uh so we got a key, went to room 276 … We knocked on the door, we entered the room. And the room was clean. … Nothing in it. It didn’t appear that anybody stayed in it for the night. … At first, we were like, oh, we lost him.
Qinxuan Pan, 29, was a graduate student at MIT studying artificial intelligence
Qinxuan Pan/Facebook
New Haven police sent investigators, including Detective Joe Galvan, to track down Pan. Galvan went to Malden, Massachusetts, where Pan lived with his parents and was a graduate student at MIT.
—
Det. Joe Galvan: … right outside of Boston …very affluent homes … There’s no one there. … so we knock on the door. … So … the day after the homicide, we were unsure if, uh, maybe the family, um, was on vacation. … out of state, out of the country.
But police were also worried.
Det. Joe Galvan: … were they — given the heinous act that occurred in New Haven the day before, were they potentially kidnapped by their own son? Were they victims of another … hor-horrible crime?
WAS AN OBSESSION A MOTIVE FOR MURDER?
With Qinxuan Pan and his parents missing from their home, Detective David Zaweski turned to his computer searching for Pan.
Det. David Zaweski: The first thing I wanna know is, who he is … and if there’s any connection between him and Kevin. … I see that he has a Facebook page.
Anne-Marie Green: What was his page like?
Detectives searched Qinxuan Pan’s Facebook account for possible clues.
Qinxuan Pan/Facebook
Det. David Zaweski: There was not much activity at all. His last, uh, post was back in 2016, and he had a few photos with some other students, but that was it.
Anne-Marie Green: Is that when you first found out that he’s an MIT grad student?
Det. David Zaweski: Yes that was the first time we got the connection between him and MIT.
Det. David Zaweski: So, I check his friends list to see if Kevin is in there.
Anne-Marie Green: Is he?
Det. David Zaweski: Kevin is not listed, but I do notice that Zion Perry is listed.
Zion Perry, Kevin’s fiancee, who also went to MIT.
Det. David Zaweski: Now we have a connection … I got in contact with her. … she explained that they had met at MIT back in, uh, 2019. And they were more associates than friends.
Anne-Marie Green: Nothing romantic?
Det. David Zaweski: No. … She said that they never dated, they never had any romantic relationship.
Det. David Zaweski: The last time she spoke with him was May of 2020 … he reached out to her through Facebook Messenger … to congratulate her on graduating. … He asked to FaceTime with her and she politely declined it.
Anne-Marie Green: She must have been wondering why you asking me so many questions about this guy. What’d you say to her?
Det. David Zaweski: She was, and that’s when I told her that he was a person of interest in this and she was completely shocked. … he was barely a part of her life. … and why he would’ve been involved with this in any way.
Anne-Marie Green: What did she have posted on her page?
Kevin Jiang and Zion Perry after Kevin’s proposal.
Zion Perry/Facebook
Det. David Zaweski: The last things that she had posted were the engagement between her and Kevin.
Anne-Marie Green: Are you starting to formulate a theory about the case that goes a little beyond possible road rage?
Det. David Zaweski: Yes … It did seem like there was a secret obsession of Pan’s going on behind the scenes that Kevin wasn’t aware of and that Zion wasn’t aware of.
The next day, Zion Perry joined Kevin’s mother, Linda Lui, and father, Mingchen Jiang, and nearly 700 people on a virtual vigil for Kevin. Perry addressed the mourners.
ZION PERRY: One day, I — I will get to see … Kevin again, yeah, in heaven and then everything is made right … I thank Miss Liu and Mr. Jiang for raising such a fine young man and for, yeah, bringing him into the world.
LINDA LIU: He gave me a lot of joy. He’s very thoughtful, warm boy taking care of me. And, uh, I miss him.
MINGCHEN JIANG: He’s a nice boy. Everybody likes him. (CRYING) Thank you. … Thank you, you all.
That week, Pastor Hendrickson eulogized Kevin at his funeral.
Pastor Gregory Hendrickson:We come to you today, remembering Kevin, grateful for his life, grieving over his loss.
Perry read a poem Kevin wrote to her. It began –
Zion Perry: “If this world falls apart, it will be all right, because we have each other’s hearts.”
A medical officer also trained to operate tanks, Kevin was buried with full military honors, just two days before his 27th birthday, on Valentine’s Day.
Meanwhile, Galvan, a member of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force in Connecticut — along with supervisor Matthew Duffy and Deputy Marshal Kevin Perreault — were utilizing their vast resources to urgently gather intelligence on Pan.
Supervisory Marshal Matthew Duffy: MIT graduate … not socially active … degree in computer science.
Lawyer William Gerace.
William Gerace: … grad student … in artificial intelligence.
Anne-Marie Green: Genius?
William Gerace: Genius. … socially not a genius.
The Marshals discovered Pan had three active phones, and they noticed that in the months before Kevin was killed, Pan was using one of those phones to contact car dealerships.
Det. Joe Galvan: He would tell them all the same thing. … um, said he was going for a test drive. I believe he said he was going on a camping trip.
Investigators were able to match the date of Pan’s test drives with each of the .45 caliber shootings in New Haven, including Kevin’s murder. It was all part of a plan, investigators say. They believe that Pan likely fired shots into those homes to ultimately mislead them, hoping that they would think Kevin’s murder was just another random shooting.
Det. Steve Cunningham: … he planned it … and he knew we’d be looking at these other things.
Det. David Zaweski: Yeah he did his best to … to mislead us.
Det. David Zaweski: Now we knew that, yes, this wasn’t a random incident out there … That he was targeted.
They also discovered that not long after Kevin’s murder, Pan called his parents, and they made a cash withdrawl of about $1,000.
William Gerace: They had tremendous assets somehow from Shanghai.
Deputy Marshal Kevin Perreault: Access to large sums of money … several million dollars.
The Marshals zeroed in on Pan’s parents and picked up a ping on their phone at a North Carolina gas station.
Det. Joe Galvan: Our task force … found it on — on the … on the ground.
The cellphone was crushed.
Supervisory Marshal Matthew Duffy: Like a car ran over it.
Three days later, investigators caught up with Pan’s parents driving near Atlanta, Georgia.
Supervisory Marshal Matthew Duffy: Georgia state police pulled them over.
Anne-Marie Green: He’s not in the vehicle.
Supervisory Marshal Matthew Duffy: Nope.
Police told them they suspected their son had killed someone.
Anne-Marie Green: Were they shocked?
Supervisory Marshal Matthew Duffy: No.
Anne-Marie Green: They weren’t shocked that their son was being investigated in connection with the cold-blooded murder.
Deputy Marshal Kevin Perreault: They may have been, but they didn’t — they didn’t lead on to us at all. They didn’t lead on to us at all.
Det. Joe Galvan: The father said our son called, said he was in Connecticut and needed help. He asked us to bring cash. Then once we picked him up in Connecticut,he took the wheel. … they take this very long drive down south …
Pan’s father didn’t say why his son was heading that direction.
Det. Joe Galvan: And he says he is quiet, acting weird. Doesn’t really say what’s going on. … they make it down to Georgia and … he pulls over … and he gets out of the car and walks away. … he said, no words to them, just walked away from the car. … That was their story
Pan’s parents agreed to be photographed. Pan’s mother declined to answer any questons without an attorney, but she later volunteered that her son walked away from her and his father and likely killed himself. The Marshals were skeptical.
Supervisory Marshal Matthew Duffy: We knew after talking to the parents that they would go to jail for him. … knowing the degree that the parents were helping him … And his resources, his intelligence, we had to take a different approach on it …
Supervisory Marshal Matthew Duffy: … we needed to focus in on the parents … they probably would lead us to him.
Supervisory Marshal Matthew Duffy: … they would go to the ends of the earth to help support and hide him.
Anne-Marie Green: And what does that mean?
Deputy Marshal Kevin Perreault: Patience.
And they would need plenty of it. Weeks went by without an arrest. They wondered if they missed something — and if their murder suspect had outmaneuvered them?
UNRAVELING QINXUAN PAN’S PLOT
Five weeks passed without a solid lead on the MIT student wanted for Kevin Jiang’s murder.
Anne-Marie Green: Can you give me a real sense of the pressure.
Det. Joe Galvan: Yeah, because this became so high profile so fast … it was — it was just heightened.
Then the manhunt for Pan suddenly heated up. Police said his mom told them she suspected her son killed himself. But they noticed his parents had a lot of banking activity.
Deputy Marshal Kevin Perreault: We start to see large sums of cash being withdrawn.
Anne-Marie Green: How much?
Deputy Marshal Kevin Perreault: At that time it was about $5,000, $10,000.
Det. Joe Galvan: That’s a large sum of money that someone could use to get out the country.
Supervisory Marshal Matthew Duffy: They still have family in China.
And then Pan’s parents rented a car.
Deputy Marshal Kevin Perreault: And they start traveling south again.
But the vehicle’s GPS system the Marshals were tracking went dark.
Anne-Marie Green: Did they turn it off?
Supervisory Marshal Matthew Duffy: It was disabled.
By then, investigators said they knew that their son had disabled GPS systems in several cars he drove in the runup to Kevin’s murder.
Deputy Marshal Kevin Perreault: Counter tactics.
Supervisory Marshal Matthew Duffy: Counter tactics …
At one point, surveillance cameras at a Georgia mall recorded Pan’s father purchasing a computer.
Deputy Marshal Kevin Perreault: Now this is during COVID. So everybody has their masks on. … We see the father walk in. … And probably about 10 minutes later, we see an individual fitting the description of the son. … So, the story of the suicide out in the woods … that’s — that’s not true.
Deputy Marshal Kevin Perreault: So from there … the parents end up traveling back north and —
Supervisory Marshal Matthew Duffy: Once they’re in Connecticut, the GPS comes back on.
Deputy Marshal Kevin Perreault: We felt — we felt the clock was really ticking.
And it ticked away for nearly two more months until May 4, 2021, when Pan’s parents drove off for a third time. But there was a difference.
Deputy Marshal Kevin Perreault: They were traveling with another couple …
Anne-Marie Green: What do you think the deal was with the other couple?
Deputy Marshal Kevin Perreault: Yeah, make it appear that it’s a regular trip … There’s no big deal, we’re just going on a trip, meet some friends … we’re not here to help our son.
Pan’s parents and their unwitting companions were eventually placed under surveillance at a North Carolina hotel, where Marshals interviewed a clerk after the Pans checked out.
Det. Joe Galvan: At one point … Quixuan Pan’s mother. … came to the clerk’s desk late at night and asked to borrow his phone.
This is a picture of Qinxuan Pan’s mother Hong Huang making the call at a Georgia hotel that broke the case wide open.
U.S. Marshals
Det. Joe Galvan: After she used his phone, she deleted the number from his phone.
Anne-Marie Green: Were you able to find that number?
Deputy Marshal Kevin Perreault: Yes.
Supervisory Marshal Matthew Duffy: We were.
The Marshals tracked the phone to a boarding house near the University of Alabama in Montgomery.
Anne-Marie Green: So, you guys are closing in —
Det. Joe Galvan: Yeah.
Supervisory Marshal Matthew Duffy: They went there with a small army, around 20 guys … they ended up finding his room and they knocked on it and he just came out and said, I’m who you’re looking for.
Deputy Marshal Kevin Perreault: He had, uh, approximately $20,000 cash on him. He had his father’s passport … And he had had multiple communication devices on him.
Supervisory Marshal Matthew Duffy: Seven SIM cards —
Deputy Marshal Kevin Perreault: Seven SIM cards and um —
Supervisory Marshal Matthew Duffy: — and the computer.
Pan was arrested for the murder of Kevin Jiang and brought back to Connecticut. He maintained his innocence, but a judge ordered him held on $20 million bond.
Deputy Marshal Kevin Perreault: Huge relief …
His case was delayed by the pandemic, but investigators had amassed a trove of evidence.
Remember that license plate imprint on Kevin’s car? Police say it matched the plate on the bumper of the SUV Pan was driving when Kevin was rear ended.
And forensic tests revealed that Pan’s DNA was on the gun and ammo found outside Arby’s…and Kevin’s blood was also on Pan’s hat, and on the gear shift of the SUV pan was driving the night Kevin was murdered.
Anne-Marie Green: Was there anything missing?
Stacey Miranda: The murder weapon.
Turns out, the gun recovered at the Arby’s was not the gun that was used to kill Kevin.
“Who knows where that murder weapon ended up,” said Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Stacey Miranda.
But there was so much other evidence that Pan’s lawyer William Gerace recommended he cut a deal.
William Gerace: Overwhelming evidence. Overwhelming evidence.
Qinxuan Pan was charged with Kevin Jiang’s murder, accepted a plea deal, and was sentenced in April 2024 to serve 35 years in prison.
U.S. Marshals
On Feb. 29, 2024, three years after Kevin’s killing, Pan pleaded guilty to his murder in exchange for serving 35 years in prison without parole.
Stacey Miranda: … and had he not been stuck on the railroad tracks, this still might not be a solved case. We might not know who did this.
At his sentencing in April, Pan sat silently as Kevin’s loved ones and friends described their loss. By court order, the camera was fixed on him. Some of Kevin’s mother’s remarks were read by a family friend.
ESTHER: I was dreaming that Kevin will have a few beautiful children after getting married. … this beautiful and joyful dream is destroyed. I am left alone by myself. … I will never see Kevin smile again. (emotional)
Then Kevin’s mother decided to speak.
LINDA LIU: To charge the murderer, Pan, 35 years in prison is too short and too light …
Qinxuan Pan, who sat with his head bowed during sentencing, looks up in court when Zion Perry rose to address him.
CBS News
Pan never explained why he killed Kevin, but the only time he looked up was when Zion Perry rose to speak.
ZION PERRY: I wanted to address Pan specifically. … Although your sentence ifs far less than you deserve … there is also mercy. May God have mercy on you. And may he have mercy on all of us.
Then Pan briefly addressed the court.
QINXUAN PAN: Your honor, um, what I’m thinking about is my action and the horrible consequences. … I feel sorry for what my actions caused and for everyone affected … I fully accept my penalties.
JUDGE HARMON: Court is gonna impose the agreed upon sentence of 35 years.
Finally, Judge Harmon passed sentence, and Pan was led away in handcuffs.
Anne-Marie Green: Did you ever consider charging his parents?
Stacey Miranda: We couldn’t charge them … because we couldn’t prove that they knew when they picked him up that he was — had committed a murder.
Anne-Marie Green: So they might be lucky that they didn’t find themselves charged as well.
Stacey Miranda: 100%.
“48 Hours” reached out to Pan’s parents for comment but did not hear back.
Now Kevin’s friends are left to wonder what Kevin, a man of deep faith, might have thought about his killer.
Anne-Marie Green: Do you think Kevin would’ve forgiven Pan?
Nasya Hubbard: Yes … I do.
Capt. Jamila Ayeh: Without a doubt.
Nasya Hubbard: Yeah.
The officers visited Kevin’s grave after they spoke to “48 Hours.” Hubbard recalled her first time there when she says she felt Kevin’s presence.
“He gave me a lot of joy,” Linda Liu said of her son.
Kevin Jiang/Instagram
Anne-Marie Green: And did something happen?
Nasya Hubbard: It’s just like wind blew, you know? And I was —
Anne-Marie Green: Did you feel like it was him?
Nasya Hubbard: Um, I felt like it was definitely different, as if like a peace kind of like, I want you to carry on, don’t be — don’t be sad that I’m gone. … Just keep going.
Qinxuan Pan is scheduled to be released in 2056, when he is 65 years old.
Produced by Murray Weiss. Emma Steele is the field producer. Elena DiFiore, Marc Goldbaum and David Dow are the development producers. Gary Winter and George Baluzy are the editors. Patti Aronofsky is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.
ALL NEW: A daughter whose mother was murdered is convinced her father is innocent.”48 Hours” correspondent Natalie Morales reports Saturday, Jan. 24 at 10/9c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
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