This case study demonstrates how domestic violence often escalates to homicide, with victims frequently being killed by their abusive partners. The investigation reveals that prior criminal history, protective orders, and documented patterns of violence are critical indicators for law enforcement. In cases where victims attempt to leave abusive relationships, perpetrators often become more violent, as they may feel they cannot have the victim and no one else can. The case illustrates how thorough investigation, including surveillance footage, witness testimony, and evidence collection, is essential for bringing perpetrators to justice, even when suspects remain at large for extended periods.
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🅽🅴🆆 Evil Lives Here 2026 🌹🌹 S20 E34 | Why Did I Let Him In?🌹🌹🌹 True Crime Full Episodes本站添加:
A young mother of five is gunned down in broad daylight. She was shot 14 times.
You can literally see the dirt kicking up from the bullets going to her body.
>> And it doesn't seem like an isolated incident.
>> There was a capital murder there the day before. There was the same MMO in both of these shootings. As witnesses emerge, a picture of the shooter comes into focus.
>> She made eye contact with their killer.
>> He looked up at me like, "I'll kill you, too."
>> But the secrets behind her murder won't stay buried.
>> He always used to sneak that hit her.
>> I didn't believe it when they told me.
He was just coldarted.
How long will he run before the truth catches up? Police knew just how dangerous this person was.
>> Carefully view all the photographs.
>> You want to get him apprehended as quickly as possible.
>> There's only one that might be close to it.
>> They have the witnesses that are able to identify him.
>> Now the problem is how do we find him?
September 23rd, 2021.
It's Thursday morning in Houston, Texas, the nation's fourth largest city.
>> There are about 5 million people in the greater Houston area, and you can drive 2 hours and still be in Harris County.
>> It's the largest county populationwise in Texas. It's probably about the size of the whole entire state of New Jersey.
And just before noon this morning, calls from an apartment complex on the northern edge of the city start flooding in to Harris County 911.
>> Man, we need police over here. I hear multiple gunshots and dude is shot a girl. It's a lady on the ground face down. I think she's dead. He shot her like six times.
>> When first responders arrive on the scene, they find the victim. 27-year-old Reisha Sanford face down on the ground.
>> My baby was laying on the ground fighting for a light.
>> This is in the middle of the day with dozens of people around.
>> What?
>> Rea Sanford had always been a fierce protector of the people she loved.
>> She was the one who is not afraid to speak up.
like when something was wrong, she'll let people know. She defended us.
>> Everybody looked up to her.
>> She was a loving, caring person. She made sure everybody around her was good.
>> And there was nobody Reisha loved more than her children.
When she became a mother, she was proud.
She had five kids, beautiful kids, a son, four girls.
She was a loving, caring parent. Her kids was everything to her. Her kids never went without. They loved her. That was their best friend.
Originally from Baton Rouge, Ranisha's family moved to Houston when she was 11 years old. Houston offer more. She like, "Mom, I'm not coming back to Louisiana."
>> And it was there that Reisha truly blossomed.
She was very known. Everybody loved her, you know, and she was very popular. She was the life of party. She loved to get dressed. Love new clothes, shoes.
Anytime a new shoe come out, she had to get it. She was a beautiful person. I see that smile and that gap teeth.
That's my baby. She make her own beat home tune, but she was just her.
Finding someone to share her vibrant life with had proved challenging, though not for lack of trying.
>> She have five kids and all her baby daddies, they involve their kids life.
>> But her luck seemed to change when she met Cameron Davis.
>> Hey, >> what you got going on, girl?
>> She met him online. He just seemed like cool.
>> The relationship quickly took off.
They just spoke on the phone all day, every day. Fell asleep on the phone, just facetiming and texting like two teenagers. Cameron and Ranisha bonded over their similar roots in Louisiana.
Risha was from Baton Rouge. He's from New Orleans. There's an interesting relationship between Louisiana and Houston. All of Texas, but mainly Houston. You will find so many people who are Louisiana transplants or who have family from Louisiana.
>> Cameron moved to the Houston area following Katrina.
>> I'm just thinking about home, you know, sometimes I miss it, you know.
>> Yeah, I feel that.
>> I could just imagine that when she met someone else who was from similar upbringing, there was that immediate connection.
>> You look like you feel tired a little bit today. Yeah, I guess I should be getting some sleep.
>> You can give me five more minutes.
>> Despite the sparks flying between them, the relationship still had its share of complications.
>> For one thing, Cameron had been in and out of trouble with the law.
>> He already had this violent history and he had been convicted on an aggravated robbery.
But at the end of the day, his sorted past didn't affect the love Risha felt.
>> There's always been this long-standing uh idea about the bad boy and being intrigued by that, especially when you're in your 20s and you want to feel like passion.
She said she grown. I told her, "You're right. You is grown." You know, she young. She in love. That's her man.
>> This was the love of her life.
But now, first responders have found Reisha gunned down in the parking lot of a Houston apartment complex.
>> Investigators realized, "Oh, wow. This is a very violent shooting."
>> She was shot 14 times, but tragically it was just too late.
27-year-old Reisha Sanford had built a beautiful life for her family in Houston, Texas. She had five beautiful kids, a son, and four girls.
>> When it came down to her kids, she was very devoted, >> and she'd fallen in love with a man named Cameron Davis.
>> They were always together. When they weren't together, they were on the phone. They were just head over heels.
>> But now Reisha's life has come to a sudden violent end after reports of a shooting at a suburban Houston apartment complex.
Sheriff deputies found her dead from multiple gunshot wounds.
She was shot 14 times.
Seven 9mm shell casings are on the ground just above her head and nearby officers locate 11 more.
This was a very violent way to kill someone. It was pretty clear that whoever did this was standing over her and had fired several shots into her while she was on the ground.
As detectives arrive, they're just as shocked by the brutality.
>> The shooting itself was a level of violence that you're not accustomed to dealing with, whether it be a district attorney or a homicide investigator.
>> They call this overkill cuz it's like, you know, this person is gone, but for some reason, you feel like you have to harm their body even more.
Even more suspicious, this isn't the first shooting at this location that week.
>> There was a capital murder there the day before as well, where the two people got shot.
>> Around 9:30 the previous morning, Harris County 911 had received another flurry of calls reporting gunshots at the same apartment complex.
When sheriff's deputies arrived, they found 27year-old Isaiah McCoy on the ground next to his vehicle.
He died from multiple gunshot wounds.
>> And 30-year-old Reginald JJ Jackson was dead in the street just outside the complex.
>> He'd been shot and run over by a vehicle.
Surveillance footage from the property showed a man approached the two victims while they were in the parking lot.
>> The man then shoots McCoy multiple times.
>> It was a close-range shooting, >> but Jackson took off running.
>> It was somewhat of a chase.
>> As Jackson reached the street, the shooter caught up with him.
He gunned Jackson down before returning to the apartment complex and disappearing from the camera's view.
>> Moments later, an SUV sped out of the complex, struck Jackson where he lay on the street, and then drove off.
>> There was somewhat of the same emmo and the pattern of violence that happened in both of these shootings.
It's not common to hear about a deadly double shooting at an apartment complex and then the very next day you hear about another deadly shooting.
What if she has some sort of connection to McCoy and Jackson? Or maybe she was a witness that could identify their shooter.
Before investigators can check the surveillance footage to see if they can ID Risha's killer, they speak with a woman who claims to have seen the whole ordeal.
>> I was out there drinking my coffee and stuff and I noticed them kind of getting into a dispute.
>> One of the people she describes was Reisha. The other was a cleancut black male.
The man was wearing a white t-shirt, light pants, and black slides with socks, and he was holding a gun.
The witness claims that she overheard the man trying to convince Risha to get back into the car.
>> Come on.
>> In the car.
>> He had like her flip-flops >> and he tossed them back to her and she was scared to even pick those up. Shut up.
>> The witness said the woman was terrified.
It was as if she did not want to take her eyes off of him to get the shoes.
>> But then the gunman noticed her watching.
>> He looked up at me and I was like, "Don't." And he's just kind of like, "I'll kill you, too."
>> To make eye contact with that killer was very scary. even scarier now that the person knows where they live at.
>> She was terrified of retaliation and retribution at a future date.
>> That's when the witness says she started gathering up her things to go back inside.
>> She said she figured it wasn't any of her business.
>> But before she could get inside, the man took action.
>> All of a sudden, she's running. He's shooting at me.
She sees this man shoot this woman several times and I just can't imagine the fear she must have felt.
>> The witness describes the weapon as a small 9 mm with an extended magazine.
>> This explains how the shooter was able to fire so many rounds at Rhysa.
After the shooting, the man abandoned the car and took off on foot.
>> He allegedly ran between the buildings towards a nearby gas station.
>> With no time to waste, police follow his route.
>> Officers are able to find another eyewitness.
>> A gas station employee believes they saw the shooter. He matches his physical description. He's on the run.
>> This guy needed to be apprehended as soon as possible.
>> Not long after the murder of 27-year-old Reisha Sanford, it seems Houston police are hot on the shooter's trail.
There is a witness who saw the gunman flee on foot in the direction of the gas station. So investigators followed his path.
>> An employee at the gas station told officers that a man with a gun had run across their parking lot. The surrounding areas want to know what's happening in their community. Is this something that they should be concerned for their safety?
>> Luckily, the employees saw where the man went next.
>> This witness last saw him running, going to nearby apartments. Police locate that individual and bring him in custody.
>> However, as they talk to the man, they quickly realize it's just a dead end.
>> He was cleared he was not the asalent in this case.
>> But as law enforcement continues to canvas the area, they do locate what appears to be the murder weapon.
>> Officers are able to find surveillance behind a nearby corner store. The camera was able to capture the suspect, taking the magazine out of the gun and disposing of them separately.
>> Officers were able to go out and recover them. And so now we have the murder weapon.
>> Meanwhile, the investigation at the crime scene is ongoing.
The car that the eyewitness saw the shooter and Rhaeia get out of is still in the parking lot. The car has outofstate plates.
>> Inside was a fast food bag, some cups, and a cell phone.
>> Leaving the car for the CSI team, detectives make their way to the apartment's main office.
They want to know what, if anything, had been captured on the complex's security cameras.
>> The apartment complex had installed surveillance cameras where they can pretty much see everything that's going on in the property.
>> Having a video itself is unique, you know? I mean, thank God for the video, right? Because you've got this sort of credibility.
Not only does a review of the footage confirm much of what the witness told them, it also reveals new details.
>> There's no doubt in what you're going to see on video versus what an eyewitness can maybe sometimes forget to report or they didn't see the full situation.
On the surveillance video, you can see her get out of the car and then him get out as well. Then he had saw pulling the gun out and she went running and holling for help.
>> You see Miss Sanford run around that apartment complex for the better part of 20 minutes.
>> And you see where he shoots her again and again and got closer so he could be over her.
He shot her like five times in the head.
The shooting itself takes place really far away, but it's really horrific.
>> The building's maintenance man tells detectives that he's seen the gunman and the victim around the complex before.
>> In fact, he said the gunman was around the day before when the double murder occurred, hanging around building 20.
But does that mean that Rhysa's murder had something to do with the deaths of McCoy and Jackson? We have two men who are shot and killed very similar to how Reisha was executed when she was murdered. Is this drugs? Is this gang?
Are they connected?
He also tells detectives of a strange encounter between a carpet cleaning crew and the victim earlier that day.
They told him something happened, but he didn't have many details. So, he gave them the company's information and the detectives give them a call.
>> And the story the workman tells is shocking.
>> He said they were working on an apartment and they say Risha ran in and hid behind the door.
And the reason for her fear quickly became apparent.
>> The next thing they know, a man came in with a gun.
>> And he points the gun at them as well.
>> He says they fled into one of the back rooms.
They were in fear for their life and also unsure of how to protect Ranisha in the moment.
>> If you're a third party and you see something like this, it's best not to intervene yourself.
>> From the back room, they said they could hear the man with the gun yelling at the woman.
>> He demanded, you know, Reisha to leave the apartment. This went on a couple of minutes before they both left.
But ultimately, they hear those gunshots moments after.
>> As detectives wrap up at the scene, they're approached by a woman.
>> Excuse me, detectives.
>> Hey, ma'am. You're not allowed to be over.
>> No, no, no. I'm family. Like, I I need to talk to you.
>> She tells detectives that Rhysa had been in an onoff relationship that had become abusive.
>> I don't know. Well, she would just call him king.
>> Detectives investigating the shooting that killed Reisha Sanford have learned from a family member that the 27year-old was in an abusive relationship.
>> She didn't know his real name, only that he goes by King.
>> King.
>> She never talked about her relationship problems much. She got it all figured out, especially when it came down to a man.
>> No, all I know is it's just it's not good.
>> Okay. All right, man. Well, thank you so much. We'll take it from here.
>> To learn more about Reisha's relationships, detectives reach out to Reisha's mother, Ashley.
>> Reisha and her mom were very close. She was obviously devastated.
>> I'm her protector. I'm supposed to be there to save her, take care of her.
It hurt. It hurts bad.
>> But through her grief, detectives get a name for King. Cameron Davis.
>> Apparently, the two of them had a very tumultuous relationship.
He always used to sneak and hit her.
Like, I'm just going on what she used to tell was jealousy of her.
>> And it seemed the violence had only escalated.
He beat her up so bad where she couldn't go out. She was telling me, "Mama, I'm tired." She knew she was about to die.
She tried to convince Risha to leave camera.
I know what I've been through, what I was young with domestic violence. So, I know how to spot it. And I told her, "Take heed."
But on a visit to Houston to see Reisha and the kids, Ashley claims that she experienced Cameron's violence firsthand.
>> I had brought my grandson a cell phone.
>> What is this?
>> Oh, I just want to surprise little man when they got in.
>> Oh, I see what's going on. You don't think I can afford to get him one myself, huh?
>> What? No, I just He broke the cell out.
>> You going to have to pay me for that.
I knew he was a bad person and that's what made me leave Houston.
>> Despite her mother's best efforts, Risha chose to stay with Cameron.
>> After that, I looked him up. I know he was a menac society.
She found out that he had some warrants and was hoping they'd lock him up.
I feel like I if I would have stayed, I could have prevented it from happening.
The rest of Reisha's family is equally devastated to learn of her death.
>> My sister called me. I said, "Well, Ashley, what's wrong?" She said, "My baby dead." And I went inside my bathroom on the side of the bathtub.
I never forget.
Everybody deals with death, but this type of death, it is painful. And then she had kids. She have little kids. It was just like unbelievable.
>> After talking to Reisha's mother, detectives run a search on Cameron's name.
>> In his background, he had a lot of violent crimes.
>> In fact, his criminal history dates back more than a decade.
>> Cameron Davis had previously been to prison for aggravated robbery.
But what seems especially relevant to detectives is the fact that Reisha had previously filed assault charges against Cameron.
In 2021, Cameron Davis was charged with two separate domestic violence cases, both involving Miss Sanford.
>> The first case happened in January.
>> The arrest happens in front of the hotel staff and he tells the hotel staff, "If you call the police, I'm going to kill you." Right. So, that's a serious allegation in and of itself.
>> He was arrested, but he wasn't in jail long.
>> Everybody being legally entitled to a bond, he posted a bond and he stopped appearing for that case.
>> Although Reisha had managed to take out a protective order against Cameron, >> but that didn't stop him from assaulting her again only a few months later.
There's another case where Rhinesia had waved down to the police officers who saw her mouth and they see her busted lip and she tells the police, "Cameron did this to me, but he's gone off the scene."
>> So, as you can see, it just continues to escalate.
>> A warrant was issued for Cameron's arrest, >> and that case ultimately is still an open warrant when this murder tragically occurs.
When you see that someone has a criminal record of harming the victim, that makes them suspect number one and makes it clear to them where the investigation is heading.
Armed with Cameron's mugsh shot from his police file, detectives arranged to meet with the woman who witnessed the shooting.
They put together a photo spread and showed the witness to see if they can identify him as the subject.
>> Carefully view all the photographs.
You're not obligated to identify anyone.
>> Detectives are in luck.
>> There's only one that might be close to it.
>> She was able to identify that that was in fact him. Cameron, >> an eyewitness to the murder of Reisha Sanford has identified her boyfriend, Cameron Davis, as the man who shot her multiple times in a Houston apartment complex.
Her family had also informed detectives that Cameron was violent and abusive. He was just coldarted. She did put restraining order on him. She got fed up with it.
Everything is in black and white within Cameron's police record.
>> When you see that someone has a history, a criminal record of violence or threats or harming the victim, that makes them suspect number one.
>> For Cameron Davis, he had two prior cases filed on him for this same type of behavior. Behavior that we actually see escalating as well.
So, detectives secure a warrant for his arrest.
>> They try to pick him up, but Cameron is not at any of his addresses. So, the sheriff's office issues a bolo for him.
>> While officers work to track down Cameron, detectives follow another lead thanks to the car he'd abandoned at the crime scene. Police discover that the vehicle was a rental car.
Only the person who rented it wasn't Reisha or Cameron.
>> Hi. Um, yes. I'm calling about a blue sedan. You rent it.
>> It was a name detectives hadn't heard yet, but when they speak with her, she says she's a friend of Risha's.
>> So, I rented that car at first for my boyfriend, but he got arrested, so I let her use it.
That car was given to her for her use leading up to the shooting.
>> The friend also tells detectives that she spent a lot of time with Reisha recently.
>> She knew the history of the cycle of violence in their domestic relationship that they had been in.
>> Domestic violence happens primarily behind closed doors. A lot of the times it's not seen by your loved ones, but her friend is able to identify that cycle of power and control that she was trapped in. She knew more about what Risha was dealing with than we did because she was actually right there.
She witnessed it more than us.
>> And less than 2 weeks before the murder, she says Risha called her and asked for a ride to the emergency room.
>> They told me King had shot her.
She doesn't know exactly what happened, only that she'd shown up at Risha's place and found her with a bloody towel wrapped around her right arm.
He shot her somewhere around the elbow.
>> Reisha was even less forthcoming with the doctors. She didn't want to report that at the hospital. The emergency room told her they would have to make a police report due to a gunshot wound.
That was her moment to be able to share that X, Y, and Z is happening to me behind the scenes, but she couldn't, which tells me she was in fear of her life.
>> Her friend also confirms that Reisha was with Cameron on Thursday morning.
>> She was able to tell them that moments before the shooting, she was on the phone with Reisha.
>> Hey girl, I didn't know King was in the car with her.
Thinking that she's just chatting with her friend, she mentions another man.
Then she heard Cameron in the background.
>> Who is Melo?
>> Cameron even grabbed the phone.
>> Let's move on.
>> Hey, you better come and get your girl.
>> Then he hung up.
About 20 minutes later, 911 calls start coming in to report a shooting.
>> When detectives follow up on the friend's statement, they do find a police report regarding the previous shooting incident.
>> She left the emergency room department before they got the name, but the report was still filed.
>> Then Rha's autopsy report comes in, also confirming the injury.
The report refers to a healing defect on her right arm. It also lays bare the sheer brutality of her murder.
>> It's not just that he shot her once in the back. He shot her again and again and again.
>> One of those bullets transsected her spinal cord. She was not able to brace herself as her body fell against the pavement.
>> I think his only mission was to make sure that she stayed un alive.
However, the detectives are still no closer to finding Cameron.
>> Houston is so large and there's so many violent crimes. The police only have a certain amount of resources through surveillance and all the things necessary to track down an individual.
So, the community is going to be on edge because you got your families living in these places. You got your kids that you want to be able to play outside. They can't play outside because police are trying to find the suspect that just possibly killed this person.
>> Weeks turn into months with no sign of the fugitive.
>> When you have someone who's a violent offender like Cameron Davis, you want to get him apprehended as quickly as possible.
>> Now the problem is how do we find him?
More than a year after Reisha Sanford's brutal murder, Houston police are still searching for their prime suspect, her boyfriend, Cameron Davis.
>> He's the abusive boyfriend who has two or three open warrants for assaulting her already.
>> There's also a witness who identifies Cameron as the man who shot Reha more than a dozen times.
Cameron was the main suspect, but now the problem is how do we find him?
>> For the better part of 15 months, he's on the run from these charges.
>> During that time though, investigators arrest the shooter and the unrelated murders of Reginald Jackson and Isaiah McCoy.
>> For Reisha's family, the wait for justice feels never ending.
It's very hard for a family to continue to live a normal life, not only after losing a loved one, but knowing that the suspect that committed the crime is out there running around free.
>> It affected my mama cuz it just he could be anywhere. Why is he free living his life? Why don't nobody care? I just kept wishing somebody would kill him the way he killed my sister.
But then in December of 2022, Houston Crimestoppers gets a call.
>> Crimestoppers is a very, very valuable program that the police started some years ago. They offer reward money for tips leading to arrest.
>> His roots go back to Louisiana. So Cameron supposedly was going back and forth between Louisiana and Houston.
They was on it right then and there like a breakthrough car.
>> Following the tip, detectives are finally able to place Cameron under arrest.
I can only imagine that for everyone involved once they heard that he was arrested, the relief that they must have felt victory.
But while Cameron's arrest offers the family a shot at closure, he doesn't give them any satisfaction.
>> Usually, you're looking for a reason why. Why did you do this? A statement of some sort, but Cameron refused to talk.
>> Defendants are not required to give a statement to the police. It's their fifth amendment right to not do so. So when someone is arrested but doesn't give a statement, it gives them flexibility as far as the evidence at trial to craft their defense to whatever they think the evidence will show.
>> In custody, he remains silent, but that's hardly a setback for the prosecution.
>> Each one of these pieces of evidence means a lot. When you have the gun, when you have the ballistic report, when they connect the blood to the subject along with videotape and eyewitnesses, that's just a great line of evidence to have to show a jury.
But while the evidence in this case was strong, you can never take a verdict for granted because you never know what a jury will do.
When the case goes to trial in April of 2024, the prosecutors paint Cameron as a man consumed by rage. We don't know exactly why Cameron Davis did what he did.
However, with these domestic violence situations, whenever the victim is trying to leave, that is usually when the asalent has this mind frame of if I can't have you, no one else can.
Investigators believe the initial trigger was Rhanisha's phone call with her friend.
>> Hey girl, Melo for you.
>> Off real.
>> Who is Melo?
>> Well, you let me finish the scene with nobody.
>> He only got angrier and Risha ran from the car to escape him.
>> But Cameron refused to let it go.
Hey, you better come and get your gun.
GET BACK HERE.
>> Instead of letting things cool off, he chased her through the apartment complex.
>> And that's what sets off this sort of tortuous 20 minutes where she's running for her life. We're able to see on surveillance Miss Sanford running around that apartment complex and what we can only really imagine is abject terror.
>> He like cut her down.
He ultimately cornered her in the apartment where the carpet cleaners were working.
>> On the way back to the car, her nightmare continued.
>> Come on.
>> Come on.
>> Come on.
>> Come get in the car. Get in the car.
What am I supposed to do with ALL THESE CAMERAS OUT HERE?
He threw her shoes at her and she's so scared that she actually hesitated to even get closer to get them.
>> Shut up. I'll kill you, TOO.
>> OH MY GOD, CAMERON. OH MY GOD. THANK YOU. PLEASE.
>> COME ON. PLEASE. Oh my god.
>> That will always stick with me. Just knowing that in those moments right before her death, she was literally begging for her life. When he saw her lifeless body fall to the ground, he still extended more rounds into her body.
>> The defense tries to claim that the investigators got the wrong man.
>> When the defense says that's not Cameron Davis on the video, we were able to loop in all of the prior instances of violence. The fact that they were in this relationship that was so toxic and on again off again. The fact that her friend is able to identify Cameron's voice as well as those witnesses who were there in the courtyard.
>> Considering the amount of evidence against him, the prosecutors have no trouble convincing the jury that Cameron murdered Reisha.
>> In this case, the jury ultimately returned a verdict of guilty. He now is serving a life sentence with eligibility for parole after 30 years.
>> While the verdict of life itself is what I believe to be justice just based on the level of violence that Cameron Davis demonstrated, I know that that verdict will never bring Miss Sanford back.
>> It's equally bittersweet for Reisha's family.
>> They say justice was served, but to me, justice would never be served.
He shouldn't see the lights, but they know.
>> Like I said, I wanted him to die. I just felt like jail's way too easy.
>> I want you to suffer like how we do. We got to go every day. I want you to do the same thing. Suffer. That's it.
>> But there's no sentence, no matter how harsh, that will make up for how much Rhysa's family and her children miss her. I'm going to be honest, I would never be okay. She is missed so much.
She was my best friend. That's who made me who I am today.
And I'm trying to stay strong. Them kids I see every day, I watch them grow every day.
I can't give them what they can give them.
And that's mama love.
For most, obtaining and maintaining love requires careful nurturing.
>> She swooped in and she latched on.
>> As their relationship developed, their emotional connection grew.
But for others, it can necessitate something more, something immoral, perhaps even something illegal.
>> I just think that she was like infatuated with my father.
She really was obsessed with him.
>> That's when love can break apart and into something extremely dangerous.
>> I found a dead body over in the woods.
When you've taken things too far, is there any turning back?
>> We know what happened. What happened?
>> There was no limit to what she was willing to do for my father's love.
Her answer was death.
March 12th, 2017, it's a chilly spring day in the sprawling community of Henriiko, Virginia. Henriiko County, Virginia is kind of an umbrella to Richmond, the city. It wraps around the city proper. Henriiko is pretty much known for its residences as well as having pretty good schools.
>> However, later that afternoon, an unsettling chain of events is beginning to unfold.
Around 5:00 p.m., a young woman named Katie Turner started to get worried about her boyfriend Martree Kohl's.
>> Martrae had plans to take a bus from his home in Henriicho to Florida to visit a college. And Katie was expecting to hear from him. She thought he would text or call to say goodbye before he left for his trip. But Katie hadn't heard anything from Marray since 10:00 a.m.
>> As the hours went by, Katie's mind just starts to spiral. Did he get on that bus? Was there an accident? Was he abducted somewhere?
>> Katie decides to reach out to Martre's sister, Michelle Kohl's, to see if she's heard from him.
>> Martre stayed at Michelle's house the night before. He was supposed to leave for his college trip.
Katie had called me and said she had been trying to contact Martree for a couple of hours. I thought it was very unusual for him not to respond to any of the messages.
>> Michelle tells Katie that she had dropped Martree off at their father's house that morning and he was supposed to head to the bus stop from there.
>> She asked me to go by the house to see if Martree was still there. Was he asleep? Had he left?
I called my sister and told my sister what was going on.
Michelle stated she called and she didn't speak to him either.
And I said, "Come get me. We're going to go to my dad's house."
>> As night falls on Henriiko County, the sisters arrive at their father's home where Michelle had dropped off Martra earlier that day. They both were met by her dad and his girlfriend Denise.
Denise confirmed, "Hey, you know, I just saw Montrey and he was leaving to get on the bus to go to Fullale University."
>> According to Denise, Marree had left for the bus around 12 p.m.
>> She was like, "I don't know. He just up and left." It didn't make absolutely any sense to me. I never believed that Marray would have left without saying anything to us till when we left. Me and Michelle got in the car and I instantly bust out in tears and I told Michelle something not right.
>> For 19year-old Martree Kohl's, the art of drawing was always his number one passion.
Being an artist that runs in the family, he drew like with pencils, ink pens, uh crayons, markers, and things of that nature. He wanted to go to school for graphic design for video games.
>> At the age of 16, Marray leaned heavily into his art as a coping mechanism when his mother unexpectedly passed away from cardiac arrest.
>> Marray took my mom's death very hard. It was like a cloud over him.
>> But Marray wasn't the only one suffering. His father, Terrence Kohl's, was also devastated by the loss of his wife.
Unfortunately, the death did nothing to bring father and son together. Instead, it made matters worse.
>> He was so busy mourning himself, I don't think he addressed Martra's feelings like at all.
That within itself can create a wedge between a father and a son.
Thankfully, things seemed to improve when Terrence began a relationship with co-orker Denise Gay.
As their relationship developed and their emotional connection grew, Terrence invited Denise and her young daughter Mia to move into his home with himself and with his son Martree. And this happened pretty quickly. They had only been dating for about a month before she moved in.
>> Denise also formed a bond with Martrae.
>> Denise was really loving to Martrae and helped him try to get into his dream school which is Fullale University in Florida.
She was helping him with the financial aid and getting his application in and speaking with the school advisor, getting a visit of the campus.
>> For Martree, leaving his hometown of Henriiko, Virginia was a welcome chance at a fresh start.
>> The morning I dropped Martree off at my father's house, we was talking about, you know, his excitement going down to the school.
He didn't really know what he wanted to do as far as his life after my mom's passing. And now he feel like, you know, he knows what to do.
>> But now, no one has heard from Martree for more than 6 hours.
>> He hasn't responded to friends or family after they've made repeated attempts to contact him.
>> And his sisters are starting to panic.
It caused an alarm immediately.
He was on like a lot of pills and stuff for depression and stuff like that.
>> He had contemplated suicide in the past.
>> It didn't help that Martra's strained relationship with his father had been getting worse and worse in the days leading to his disappearance. There were some odd things happening around their house that Martree kept getting blamed for.
>> One of the weird things that happened was that Terrence had discovered a pentagram drawn under the carpet in Martrae's room. But when he confronted Martrae about it, Martrae said, "I didn't do it."
Terrence had held on to his deceased wife's old car, and one day it caught fire.
And again, he blamed Martree. And Martrae swore up and down that he did not set this car on fire.
>> Could the added tension with his father be the reason that Martrae suddenly took off from home?
>> There was a concern that maybe he'd harmed himself or done something drastic instead of going on his college tour.
The next morning, with Martrae's whereabouts still unclear, his loved ones look for any possible clues by searching his emails.
Kate and Martree were so close that Martree actually shared some of his login information with her.
>> As she scans the correspondences Martree received from Fullale University in Florida, something catches her eye.
It was [email protected] and not fullale atedu.com.
If this is a legit school, why would they write him an acceptance from a Gmail account?
>> When Katie found the emails, I knew something was wrong.
Things were just not adding up.
Something was not right.
In March of 2017, 19-year-old Martrae Kohl's was looking forward to pursuing his passion for art by attending Fullale University in Florida. He really had talent. He wanted to design for video games, maybe do comic books, and so he really had an incredibly bright future ahead of him.
But after leaving for a college tour of the university on March 12th, Marree has inexplicably vanished.
>> He had supposedly left his father's house around 12:00 p.m. to catch a bus to Florida, where the university was located, but no one had heard from him since.
And now, nearly 24 hours after Martrae's loved ones last made contact with him, suspicious emails from the college have set off even more alarm bells.
>> In the back end of those emails, it was a Gmail account that sent them and not an edu account, which normally every college has an.edu account.
>> When Martra's loved ones reach out to the university, their suspicions are confirmed.
These emails that Martree had been receiving from Fullale University were not real.
>> For Martre's sisters, this bewildering piece of information sends a clear message that they will need a lot more help in finding their brother.
>> Me and Marquisha went down to the police precinct. We told them that we wanted to file an immediate missing person's report and they put the report in.
>> The officers took the information, but because Marree was an adult, they didn't do anything.
>> As days turn into weeks since Martree's disappearance, family members can only hope that Martree will eventually turn up safe.
Michelle and I were actually looking day and night for Martree, trying to piece together what happened to Marray.
Then, 3 weeks after Martrae mysteriously vanished, a disturbing discovery comes to light.
>> On April 2nd, 2017, a local resident named Aaron Thomas is out for a walk on his lunch break.
This is a location that is an industrial part of the county.
>> As he's making his way through, he sees this big plastic bin wedged between some bushes.
>> When he got closer to that bin, he saw shoes hanging out the side.
He decided to further investigate and then found out, "Oh, wait a second.
There are legs and feet attached to these shoes.
That's not good.
>> When he opens it up, he could never have imagined the nightmare that he would find inside this bin. That is when he saw a human body.
>> In shock, Aaron immediately dials 911.
>> I found a dead body over in the woods. I was just reporting it. I I don't know what to do. Were they still breathing at all?
>> No.
>> Okay. I've got police on the road.
>> When police get there, they did discover what looked like a younger African-American male.
>> The victim has been doused with powdered lime.
>> Lime is a substance that will help keep the smell of decaying flesh down. His hands are bound behind his back with duct tape, but there was no signs of a physical struggle. There were no defensive wounds. There were no stabbing wounds. There was no blood. There was also no identification. They didn't know who this victim was.
>> However, a quick search of recent missing person's reports provides investigators with a hit.
The first report that detective Egan receives is the one that Michelle and Marquisha Kohl's filed on behalf of their brother Martyra.
It was obvious when she placed the two images next to each other that the body that was found was in fact the missing Martra Kohl's.
After Martrae's remains are transferred to the medical examiner, investigators are able to ascertain how he died.
The way that Martrae died was that he was suffocated.
The toxicology report revealed that Martrae had two drugs in his system. He had the sleeping agent Trazadone and he also had GHB.
Gamma hydroxrate which commonly we call the rape drug can be a a suppressant.
Investigators believe that Martrae had been drugged first and then after becoming drowsy was then suffocated to death.
>> But who did this to Martrae and why?
>> He was a good kid going to good places and it was all stripped away. What kind of a person would do something like that?
>> April 2nd, 2017, 3 weeks after he was first reported missing. Martre Kohl's body has been discovered inside a plastic bin in a wooded industrial park near Richmond, Virginia.
>> Investigators had come up with a cause of death for Martree. He was drugged and suffocated, but they still didn't have a why. They didn't know who could possibly want to hurt this young man.
Investigators set into motion a plan to find the person responsible for the heinous crime.
Police place a camera in the woods trying to figure out if somebody would come back to the scene of the crime.
>> In an effort to avoid tipping off Martra's killer, police make the difficult decision to delay informing Martra's family that they have found his body. We did not feel like we could even share with the siblings who of course had expressed this immense amount of concern for their little baby brother because they could actually kind of blow the cover and we would lose an opportunity to take the next steps of the investigation.
However, as detectives wait to see if the killer will return, a police sergeant from another division reaches out with information that stops them in their tracks.
>> The sergeant informs that two officers within his unit had documented an incident that occurred on March 31st.
This was just 2 days prior to Martre's body being stop.
On the evening of March 31st, there had been an alarm call where Martree Kohl's was living with his father, Terrence, and Denise Gay.
When officers arrived, they were met by Denise Gay's 12-year-old daughter, Mia, and older daughter, Latoya.
Latoya told the officers that Denise and Terrence were both at work >> and she explains to them that the burglary alarm was a false alarm.
>> Convinced nothing is wrong, officers prepared to leave. But as they begin to exit the home, young Mia made an unexpected request.
>> Mia asked the second officer if she could speak with him off to the side.
Once alone with the officer, Mia began to share a frightening story. She says she saw her mother Denise and her older sister Latoya kill Martree in excruciating detail. Mia laid out what she claimed were Marre's final moments alive.
>> She says it started around 10:30 a.m. on the morning of March 12th when Terrence was at work. Martre had just been dropped back at the house after spending the night at his sister Michelle's.
>> Denise was helping Martree with this plaster face mask project that he was doing for Full Sale University. She says she could hear Martree start to get sick and throw up.
Then Mia heard Martree yelling, "Get off of me." and she ran to his room and she saw her mother and her older sister on top of Martra.
Her mother locks eyes with her and simply gives her a hand gesture to send her back to her room where she retreats and stays for a period of time.
That was the last time she saw Martra ever again.
>> Mia later heard what sounded like something being pushed across the floor.
As she opened the door to see what was happening, she saw her sister pushing a Tupperware bin on the ground.
her mother indicated to her that she was to remain in her room, that they would be back.
>> At the time, officers were unsure what to make of Mia's account. They had interacted with Mia before and were aware she had a troubled past.
>> They were familiar with Mia because they had responded to this house on a previous incident. Mia had tried to run away from home after she was upset about a disciplinary action taken against her for some bad behavior.
>> It's a point that Latoya emphasized to the officers.
>> Latoya then is calling her mother Denise and explaining to her what Mia has told the police officers.
It is during this time that Denise Gay is on her daughter's phone speaking to the officer trying to describe Mia as again a a mischievous young lady, 12year-old who makes up stories and that they should not believe anything that she's saying.
The officers ended up leaving without taking any further statements on the matter.
>> For whatever reason that we to this day don't know, no investigator came out on the scene that night.
>> It seems unbelievable that the officers didn't do more with this information since Martree had already been reported missing at this point. But since they weren't taking Mia very seriously, they never looked up the report on Martree to connect the dots.
Now, homicide detectives have to wonder, was 12-year-old Mia telling the truth?
>> You flip back to that day in the burglar alarm call, it totally made sense.
Detectives, they're like, "Wait a second here. We got something."
>> Investigators know they need to speak with Denise and Latoya as soon as possible. And later that same day, they'll get their chance. She was just very nonchalant, completely unconcerned.
>> Where do you think he is? I'm I'm looking for him.
>> In April of 2017, Henriiko County detectives have just made a stunning break in the murder case of 19-year-old Martrae Kohl's.
>> Martrae had been living at his father's house along with his father's girlfriend, Denise Gay, and Denise's 12-year-old daughter, Mia.
According to Mia, she had witnessed her mother and her older sister Latoya kill Marray with their bare hands.
>> Although a troubled 12-year-old girl isn't the strongest witness, police can't ignore the fact that Mia's account matches key investigative details they've collected about the murder.
>> The way that Martrae died was that he was suffocated.
>> That's essentially what Mia described.
she witnessed on the morning of March 12th.
>> But if Mia is telling the truth, why would Denise and Latoya want Marray dead?
>> Detectives were eager to speak to both women and start unraveling this case.
>> They decide to bring in Denise first.
>> During that initial interview, law enforcement didn't provide every piece of information that we had to Denise. We wanted to see if she would give us any information that would assist us in proving that she in fact was involved in the homicide.
>> Where do you think he is?
>> My gut feeling is he's with his girlfriend.
>> I guess would you expect to hear from Trey or would his dad expect to hear from him or >> That's any given time because I'm I'm looking for him. I mean, we speak. It's not like we don't, you know, say anything at all to each other, >> right?
>> She was just very nonchalant, completely unconcerned.
We were hoping she would get curious and wonder how much we really knew. And the theory was that she may even be so bold as to go back to the location where Marray's body had been left in the tote to see if we had found him.
Police still had their hunting camera at the scene waiting.
>> So after that initial interview, Denise was allowed to leave. We did not arrest her at that point and she was allowed to go home.
>> Detectives soon learned this isn't Denise's first runin with law enforcement.
>> She was from Richmond, Virginia, but she had lived other places. She had family in both North Carolina and South Carolina.
We learned that up and down the eastern seabboard she had been convicted of and incarcerated for crimes that involved various forms of fraud and deceit.
This wrap sheet she had was more than 10 pages long. It was it's just huge.
>> By 2014, Denise was recently divorced and out of jail when she met Martra's father, Terrence Kohl's.
Denise met Terrence Kohl's at a food plant where they both worked. Terrence was a really hard worker. He was a provider for his family and that attracted Denise to him.
>> I just think that she was like infatuated with my father. He can be fun, comedian, very comical.
>> But Terrence was also still grieving the death of his wife and doing his best to cope.
Terrence was extremely vulnerable during this time and this is where Denise really found an opportunity to almost groom him.
She swooped in and she latched on.
>> I believe Denise position at the time was very beneficial. He was used to having a wife at home, uh, someone who cares to him. And when Denise placed herself there and were doing those things, he was okay with it.
After just a month of dating, Terrence moved Denise and 12-year-old Mia into the home. Denise really stepped into the role of mother and wife. She was doing things around the house, cooking and cleaning, and she really seemed to be building a close relationship with Martre.
But in reality, was Denise a wolf in sheep's clothing? Investigators were about to get one step closer to proving that theory.
>> We went back to retrieve the memory card from that camera and an individual had returned to that location.
>> She returned to the dump site.
They caught her on camera.
April 2017 in Henriiko, Virginia.
Detectives are zeroing in on Denise Gay as their main suspect in the murder case of 19-year-old Martra Kohl's.
>> Denise's youngest daughter, Mia Gay, reported seeing Denise kill Martree with the help of her other daughter, Latoya.
And now, thanks to a camera investigator set up at the body dump site, they get another win in their case against Denise.
We found images of an individual caught walking through the camera shot.
>> It wasn't hard for detectives to see that. Okay, that's Denise. That's her shape.
We believe that Denise was trying to take Martra's body and dispose it so that we would never find it. However, what she did not know is we had already found Martrey's body.
When detectives get their hands on Denise's phone records, they uncover even more evidence tying her to the crime scene. On the morning Martra was killed, phone records show Denise's cell phone pinging at her home until 2:30 and then driving over to the site where Martrae's body was found. And she stayed there for 7 minutes.
Armed with these latest pieces of damning evidence, police decide to bring Denise in for another interview, but this time they're playing hard ball.
Law enforcement disclosed to her that Marray was dead and that we had found his body.
>> What happened?
>> That's what we want you to tell us.
>> Denise is playing this thing off cool and collected. She's acting like, you know, she doesn't know anything about the homicide.
>> You're saying that you know what happened.
>> We do.
>> What happened?
>> You killed him in your house. The last time you saw him, he was in a storage bin.
She never seemed to be shaken, rattled by anything that was presented to her.
She was very stoic and I would say you could describe it potentially as sociopathic behavior.
>> Police charge Denise with firstdegree murder and keep her in holding while they prepare to speak with her daughter and alleged co-conspirator, Latoya Gay.
But tracking down Latoya will be easier said than done.
>> When Latoya realized that investigators were looking into her being connected to Martra's murder, she got out of town. We knew that the gays had family connections in South Carolina. They were able to finally locate her staying with a family member and they brought her into the police department in South Carolina.
>> Inside the station, detectives take a crack at getting a confession from the 21-year-old.
>> It was actually kind of entertaining to watch because when they said, "We have a warrant for murder for you." She she kind of jumped back and said, "For me?"
There's a murder warrant for you.
>> For me? Why is it for me?
>> And just like her mother, she denied her involvement and and didn't admit to anything.
>> I don't know what you're talking about >> for what you did.
>> I didn't do anything.
>> Investigators indict Latoya on the same firstdegree murder charges as Denise.
>> Police believe Denise was probably the driving force in the crime. But since Latoya helped her with the murder and disposal of the body, she was just as culpable in the eyes of the law.
>> Now that the two suspects are in police custody, detectives finally update Martra's family on the details of the case.
>> I was home getting ready for work and I got a call from the detectives and they said, "Martree is dead."
I remember screaming to the top of my lungs when I found out that Denise had been arrested for Martra's murder. I was happy because I never liked Denise. I I knew she was evil the first time I met her.
>> However, Terrence Kohl's has an entirely different reaction.
>> Marray's father did not take the news that Denise Gay had been arrested. Well, he actually tried to argue and say there's no way she would have done this. You know, she cares about him.
>> Will investigators be able to secure a conviction?
>> They still needed to figure out an explanation for why Denise and Latoya committed this horrific crime.
>> There's no requirement under the law that you prove a motive, but the jury's probably going to want one in this case.
When the case goes to trial, a sorted motive is revealed that shows just how far Denise was willing to go to solidify a future with her man.
>> Denise went to great lengths for their relationship.
>> She was willing to murder for his love.
On December 8th, 2017, nearly 8 months after 19-year-old Martree Kohl's was found suffocated to death, Denise and Latoya Gay stand trial for his murder.
In the courtroom, Denise absolutely showed no remorse. Her or Latoya, there was a couple of moments where there was a bunch of laughing and giggling going on.
During the trial, prosecutors explain why Denise, the alleged mastermind, wanted young Martrae dead.
What we learned about Denise Gay was that she was a very jealous woman.
And we could think of no other reason for why she would literally sniff out the life of this precious soul, Martrae, except for that he was in the way.
Denise was extremely threatened by Terren's first wife who had passed away and she wanted to erase any memory of her, any trace of her, >> any trace, including Martree.
Investigators believe Denise did everything in her power to have the 19-year-old kicked out of their home.
>> Authorities believe that she actually was the one who drew the pentagram that was found underneath Mary's carpet.
and set fire to his mother's car.
>> When those attempts failed to get Marray removed, Denise decided to take one final unimaginable step.
>> Her answer was death.
And she decided to murder Marray.
We were able to see that Denise Gay's computer in the house where Martree lived was the computer that was sending him emails proposing that he visit Fullale University.
She figures that if Martree gets accepted into his dream university, no one would think twice if he goes away and they don't speak with him again. On the morning of March 12th, 2017, Denise put her heinous plan into motion with the help of her oldest daughter, Latoya.
I think she knew her daughter would agree to do it because I think Latoya had been manipulated by her mother for so long that she was probably more afraid of what her mother would do if she said no than of going to jail for her mother.
To make the process easier, Denise decided to drug Martree.
>> Perhaps she had given him some type of drink that she had put the drugs into so that he would be somehow subdued.
That was Denise and Latoya's opportunity to take him down.
They suffocated him to death.
I absolutely believed that the jury would come back with a guilty verdict. I thought that the evidence was overwhelming.
>> But after the jury retires to deliberate, their verdict sends shock waves through the courtroom.
The jury found Latoya and Denise Gay guilty on the conspiracy charge, but they were deadlocked on the murder charges.
>> The conspiracy charge would only yield a 10-year sentence.
I still to this day cannot wrap my head around how the jury agreed that Latoya and Denise Gay had conspired to kill Martrae, but they couldn't agree that those two individuals had done it.
>> However, a surprising development involving Martra's father gives investigators a promising chance at a new trial. Probably one thing that Detective Egan nor Stacy nor I would have ever had imagined would have happened in a million years is the phone call that Detective Egan got from Terrence.
After seeing the evidence presented in the first trial, Terrence Kohl's had come around to the idea that his girlfriend Denise may not be as innocent as he once thought. And now he is willing to help law enforcement put her behind bars.
>> He had located Denise's purse in the closet that in fact had her cell phone there.
For investigators, the discovery of Denise's phone proves huge.
>> Investigators were able to see text messages between Latoya and Denise Gay about the dump site where Martre's body was found. And there were text messages about something being missing.
>> Investigators also find a number of bone chilling internet searches that Denise had conducted on her phone.
There were things like how to dispose of a body.
>> When prosecutors reveal this explosive new evidence in a second trial on April 12th, 2018, the outcome is decidedly different from the first one.
>> Denise was convicted of that murder charge, and the jury gave her the maximum sentence, which was life in prison.
Latoya was found guilty of murder, but she was sentenced to 20 years on the murder charge.
>> I think the jury felt that Denise was kind of the puppet master, and that's why the jury was more lenient with Latoya.
>> Despite the guilty verdicts, the pain of losing Martree still hits hard with his family.
>> We are still trying to get in a better place after Martra's death. She just took a lie from us. But I forgive her. I have to forgive in order to heal.
Martray was a wonderful person.
He, you know, wasn't just a wonderful artist on paper. He was a artist in the inside. He could paint a smile without painting it. I miss him every day.
This case is just absolutely heartbreaking. You have a teenage boy who is grieving the death of his mother and here comes a woman who looks like she might be another mother figure and instead of truly caring about him and helping him through his pain, it's the ultimate betrayal.
I think that if Denise would have gotten away with Mary's murder that she definitely would have done something horrible to me and my This
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