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After the brutal binding, torture and murder of a woman in her home, her ex-husband calls 911, but police suspect he is the killer. Also, when a man turns up dead in a house fire, his wife tells police he was suicidal, but the truth is even more shocking.
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00:009-1-1, what's your emergency?
00:06No, my husband is dead.
00:149-1-1, what's your emergency?
00:15Somebody broke into our house, but we heard a gunshot.
00:21Sir, is she awake?
00:23She's dead.
00:23A 9-1-1 call sets the stage for what the story is.
00:34You get so much more than just the facts.
00:38Is the 9-1-1 caller the killer or a true witness?
00:489-1-1, what's your emergency?
00:53Smokey, I can't get on the door.
00:58Yeah, yeah, please hold me up, hold me up.
01:00She's sick, do you have to please hold me up?
01:05I was on the phone with her.
01:06She's my girlfriend there.
01:07I heard a pun screaming.
01:08I don't know if something happened or not.
01:11A guilty person can manipulate the 9-1-1 call,
01:14but it's my job to find the truth.
01:16You know, my brother, I wasn't going to be admitted to your emergency.
01:4443rd Avenue, North East.
01:53Okay, tell me exactly what happened.
01:59I came out here to check.
02:01My husband sent a text message that he didn't come in today.
02:05And I walked in, in the house, it's Smokey.
02:08I can't get in the door.
02:09It's Smokey, in the house.
02:11Okay, Nicky, Nicky, Nicky.
02:13Nicky, Nicky, Nicky, I need you to calm down for me, okay?
02:17Nicky, what's your husband's name?
02:21Yeah.
02:23I'm just going to know.
02:26Hi, Nicky.
02:28They're on their way.
02:29They're coming as safely as they can, okay?
02:31All right.
02:32Bye.
02:33Bye.
02:33When law enforcement arrived on scene, Nicky was pretty distraught and very worried, obviously,
02:46of what was going on.
02:49The firefighters enter the house to extinguish the fire
02:53and identify that there's a deceased male in the bedroom.
03:01When investigators initially arrived on scene, there was a shotgun close to the body.
03:10So they believed that it was possible that Chad took his own life.
03:19When either law enforcement or fire identify that there's a deceased individual within a house,
03:25it changes the demeanor of the investigation and starts to open the eyes into this maybe more than just a fire.
03:31And we found evidence at the crime scene that blew the suicide theory apart.
03:56I'm sorry, Lord.
03:57It's ready to think.
03:58Ambulance, please, please.
04:01Please, hurry up.
04:04Hurry up.
04:05She's sick.
04:05She asked me.
04:07What's wrong with her, sir?
04:08She said, I don't know.
04:09I just came in the house machine and she fell.
04:16Okay.
04:16Is the person breathing?
04:18No.
04:19She's unconscious.
04:20She looks like she fell or something.
04:22This is my ex.
04:22I just came to the house because she ain't come to work today.
04:25So they sent me to go over here.
04:26I just went into her house.
04:27It seemed like she was doing her makeup or something and she fell.
04:30Please, hurry up.
04:31Please.
04:32Okay, sir.
04:32We're on our way, sir.
04:39I was one of the first detectives to arrive.
04:43Michael Melton was outside and he tried to explain that his wife was inside of her apartment and he discovered her on the floor in the bedroom and he was unsure what took place.
04:56This is one of the most awful crime scenes that we've seen in Monmouth County.
05:05The scene was ransacked.
05:06The scene was ransacked.
05:08The refrigerator is open.
05:10The cabinet doors are open.
05:12The drawers are open.
05:13Janelle is laying down across from her bed.
05:20She had severe head trauma and the head trauma did not just involve a penetrating gunshot wound to her head, but she had what appeared to be stab wounds on her head and neck area.
05:33And she had bruising and swelling on her face, specifically around the eyes and the jawline.
05:40It was evident that this brutality took place over time.
05:47This is very shocking in a sense that this woman appeared to be bound and tortured prior to her death.
05:57There's a lot of times that husbands kill their wives.
06:00There's a lot of times that family members kill each other.
06:03So Mike certainly is a suspect.
06:05I need somebody to immediately to do that.
06:35I'm going to go to 12 in Safety Harbor.
06:37Okay.
06:38For what?
06:39I was on the phone with her.
06:41She's my girlfriend there.
06:42I heard a ton of screaming.
06:43I don't know if something happened or not.
06:45They can get there quicker than I can.
06:47Okay.
06:47And you didn't ask Rescue to go?
06:49I get an ambulance and a police officer.
06:53What's her name?
06:55Nikki.
06:55Nikki.
06:56Nicole.
06:57Okay.
06:58I'm on the other line with him.
06:59I hear a ton of noise.
07:00I don't know what's going on.
07:05Chris Catano called and asked that our agency respond to do a welfare check on Nicole Halpin.
07:11We learned that Nicole had two children, both boys, both under 10 years old.
07:16Once the deputies were able to get inside the home, they spoke briefly with the two children.
07:29One child was able to tell them that he saw someone wearing all black and a mask chase his mom through the house, heard her scream, and thought that that person was chasing her with a baseball bat.
07:43They searched the house and eventually found our victim.
07:52She was laying face down on the bed.
07:56There was blood protruding from her ear, and there was a lot of blood around her head on the bed itself.
08:00There was also some cast off from where she had been struck to tell us that she'd been struck multiple times in that area.
08:12There was no forced entry to the house.
08:14There was nothing in the house that appeared to have been ransacked.
08:17As far as the home showing signs of a burglary, there was nothing there to show us that.
08:22The 911 call is always a piece of evidence for us, but this became the centerpiece for us.
08:33Christopher Catano actually provided the wrong address for the deputies to respond to.
08:38If you've been her boyfriend for a couple of months, we would think that you would know her address.
08:48So the question begins, why is he providing us wrong information?
08:53Was he purposely sending us to the wrong address?
08:57That's a red flag for us.
08:58I was on the phone with her.
09:19She's my girlfriend there.
09:20I heard a ton of screaming.
09:22I don't know if something happened or not.
09:28We always want to start looking at the people that are closest to her, trying to determine who might want to harm her.
09:37Christopher provided the wrong address for the deputies to respond to.
09:41So right away, Chris was a potential suspect in this case.
09:45Sounds like somebody might be in the house.
09:47As I listen to this call, Chris is telling them that he hears noises in the background.
09:50He feels there's somebody inside the house.
09:52So there's something that we need to talk to him about and get it clarified.
09:54Christopher Catano was a 32-year-old engineer.
10:10He had recently met Nicole, and they had been dating for approximately two months.
10:14We had a relatively friendly relationship, never had any major arguments or anything like that.
10:19Piffs here and there, nothing, nothing out of proportion or anything like that.
10:24Nicole was really described by her family and her friend as a very loving, a very caring person
10:31who was consumed with the care of her children.
10:35Let's jump up to today.
10:37Okay.
10:38The phone was ringing.
10:39It was her.
10:39And then she started saying, something's weird or something like that.
10:46Then right after then is when all the screaming started.
10:49And the screaming was, I don't think I've ever heard screaming like that before.
10:54I heard, like, breathing.
10:56I thought I heard, like, I don't know if I heard a man or what I heard, but there was a struggle.
11:00I know there was a definite struggle.
11:02And I didn't hesitate for more than tops 30 seconds.
11:06I picked up my cell phone with that on the phone, and I called 911.
11:09I need somebody to immediately to go to 12 in safety harbor.
11:14I said 12, not thinking or whatever, when he was actually 15, and I think that screwed
11:17things up a little bit.
11:19They can get there quicker than I can.
11:20As we're talking to Chris, he explained that she had been dating someone by the name of Dan Welch.
11:25As far as this guy goes, I know that they were dating for a year and a half to two years.
11:32He says that they had a troubled relationship.
11:35It just ended recently, and that there were some stalking issues and things of that sort.
11:40It was bad 10 November.
11:43It was bad, and when I say bad, I know of at least three or four instances that she told
11:50me he was banging on the door, came over her house, whether it was the middle of the day
11:54or late at night.
11:56If someone is pointing me in another direction other than themselves, it's always something
12:00that I'm going to do a lot of digging in.
12:01I just want to be able to make sure that you're not just trying to throw me off the track.
12:04We arrived at Dan's house.
12:08I said, we're here to talk to you about Nikki.
12:10He says to me, Nikki who?
12:12And I said, Nicole Halpin.
12:14At that point, he said, oh, yeah, I heard about what happened to her this morning on the
12:19radio.
12:20And like, okay, you just literally went from, I don't know who you're talking about, to,
12:24oh, yeah, I heard about it this morning on the radio.
12:28He ended up getting a phone call from someone on his cell phone, and we heard him say, yeah,
12:33the police are here to talk to me about Nicole.
12:35I heard something on the radio this morning about she got bashed in the head.
12:38We had never released that she had been hit or bashed in the head or anything like that
12:42at all.
12:43I knew right then, we need to sit down and have a long, detailed interview with him.
12:53This is Detective Snipes.
12:54We're here for an interview with Daniel Patrick Welch.
12:57We are obviously going to need to verify where you were last night.
13:00Where were you?
13:01Well, I was at home.
13:05Actually, you know what?
13:06I went to, me and Larry, he goes, I ride the bike and he jogs, so he's down the road from
13:13me.
13:14And we go out.
13:16I don't know what time we exactly got back.
13:18What this neighbor would do is go out nightly and jog 10 miles, and what Dan would do is
13:23ride his bicycle alongside him.
13:26How long do you guys normally stay out?
13:27How long were you out most?
13:28So I guess if you want to talk to him, I'll show you where his house is.
13:33Larry explained.
13:34He says, yeah, last night we went out as we normally would.
13:37And about 10 minutes into it, he started complaining that he had an upset stomach.
13:41And so he says he had to turn around and leave.
13:44And so I finished the rest of my run on my own.
13:47So literally after talking to Dan and him trying to give us an alibi as to where he was
13:52that night, that Nicole was attacked, that was destroyed in a matter of minutes of talking
13:57to Larry.
13:58In our eyes, we know that this is identifying him as a suspect, along with Christopher Catano.
14:05But there's no way to prove anything.
14:07Whenever we get a 911 call, we have our 911 calls transcribed.
14:23The secretary called me over to listen to the call.
14:26The first time I listened to it, I was like, I don't hear it.
14:35We had to take that tape out, send it out, have it enhanced to try to take out some of
14:40the background noise.
14:42I rewound the tape a little bit, listened again.
14:45And I said, wait a minute, I hear something now.
14:46By the third time, listening a little bit closer, that's when I called over Detective
15:00Judy, because you've got to hear this.
15:03I could literally hear in the background, Nicole calling.
15:16I knew it was Dan's voice, her ex-boyfriend.
15:24I was ecstatic, because we've got him nailed.
15:26This is our case right here.
15:31What I believed happened that night is that Dan was there stalking her again.
15:40He hid in the closet.
15:41But when she came out of the room and she's on the phone with Chris, he's thinking to himself,
15:50I've got to try to do something.
15:55She's screaming and she's yelling.
15:58Just before he started hitting her, he's saying, Nicole, calm down.
16:01And he hit her with the intent to quiet her down and went too far with it.
16:08Had it not been from the 911 call and hearing that sound in there, that's a large piece of evidence that we never would have gotten.
16:31And ultimately, that's how we were able to solve that case.
16:35Okay, is the person breathing?
17:04I think every time I listen to that call, I think his mic is a true witness, a suspect,
17:13or somebody who has arrived to the scene and does not know what's going on.
17:17What's wrong with this, sir?
17:19I don't know.
17:19I just came to the health machine and she fell.
17:21She seemed like she hurt.
17:22Please, help me out.
17:23You don't know how to take his emotions.
17:26He found his ex-wife down on the floor.
17:28He doesn't know what happened to her.
17:30He says maybe an accident.
17:31Certainly, there's flags.
17:33You want to look into every single word he says.
17:35Please, help me out.
17:36Help me out.
17:37She kicked me out of me.
17:39Janelle was tortured.
17:40When you torture a human being, you're a savage.
17:43Mike is the only person there who found Janelle's body.
17:48They find out that they're divorced.
17:50They're separated.
17:51Mike has to be interviewed.
17:53I appreciate your cooperation, man, and your time and efficiency.
18:01What did you do, Jay?
18:03I'm going to say, that's her.
18:05Okay.
18:07Janelle Melton and Mike were school teachers.
18:11The type of person Janelle was, she was very vibrant.
18:14She was always loud.
18:16She didn't mind to get on the dance floor.
18:18She was just full of life.
18:19The type of teacher she was,
18:20was a replica of what she was as a person.
18:23When you speak to any of the children that she taught,
18:26she changed lives.
18:28When was the last time that you saw her?
18:30I saw her was Friday at work.
18:34I woke up this morning.
18:35I called her like 7 o'clock.
18:37Called her again, like three times, going down 18.
18:40So now I'm thinking like, damn, what the hell going on?
18:44It wasn't the traditional marriage,
18:46because they were young,
18:47but they loved each other the best that they could at that time.
18:49We was tight, but we just couldn't be married.
18:53You filed for the divorce?
18:54Yeah.
18:55The divorce was supposed to happen October 6th.
18:58Wow.
18:59And I just told her about it like,
19:01like a week and a half ago.
19:03You had some sexual relations with her?
19:06Yeah.
19:06Right.
19:07When was the last time you had sex with her?
19:09Um, what's it that we knew?
19:13That Sunday.
19:14Not yesterday, the other Sunday.
19:17Johnnell did know that Mike was starting to see someone else
19:20because they were talking about divorce and things like that.
19:23And how's your girlfriend ever been talking to you about, um,
19:26your ex?
19:29No, she was always...
19:29Were you guys having any arguments?
19:30Yeah, we had a discussion.
19:32Like, she wanted me to get a divorce.
19:34Mm-hmm.
19:34And I knew that I wanted to be with her
19:38because I felt like I was more compatible with her.
19:40With who?
19:40With my new girlfriend.
19:41Right.
19:42But I felt bad for my ex.
19:45So she was basically pressuring you to...
19:46No, she wasn't pressuring me.
19:48She just was like,
19:49I had to make a grown-man decision.
19:50Like, what you gonna do?
19:52Some of the things about still sleeping with Johnnell,
19:55the girlfriend being upset,
19:56certainly there was signs that something doesn't seem right.
20:00The fact remains that you're the person that discovered the body.
20:03We don't know if there is some fact of foul play involved.
20:11Neptune City is a small town,
20:13so the police department and the community are extremely close.
20:16Once there is a homicide, there's a lot of street talk.
20:27Street talk is one thing, but there is some truth in street talk.
20:31People were asking, was he involved?
20:33Did Mike commit the murder of Johnnell Melton?
20:43She loved me so much, and I couldn't beat everything.
20:46It was like she was obsessed.
20:48I told her the last time I saw her that I had visits,
20:50I couldn't do it no more,
20:51because I saw how much that it was affecting her.
20:54I feel messed up right now.
20:56Like, I really feel like in my heart that,
20:58like, all I should have did was just, like, stay with her.
21:01And then, like, maybe none of this would have happened.
21:04I really think she might have did something to herself.
21:06Really?
21:07I think it's the person breathing.
21:09No, she's unconscious.
21:10She looked like she fell or something.
21:14You're just not going to tell a new man.
21:15All right, no.
21:16I saw her.
21:17Uh-huh.
21:17It was obvious she was dead.
21:19You know, when you...
21:19I know, but I didn't...
21:20I didn't know, like...
21:21I mean, she was...
21:22She looked pretty bad in the condition she was, so...
21:24Yeah, but I'm not a...
21:26Like, a thing or not.
21:27I didn't know, bro.
21:28Like...
21:28No, I understand.
21:29Like, I just found my wife.
21:30Like, come on.
21:31Like, how am I supposed to know that?
21:34That's why I called that, um, 911.
21:36You tried to give them mouth-to-mouth or anything?
21:38No, I just called 911 and told them to come there.
21:40Don't ask you, because you tried to...
21:42No, I didn't try to...
21:43Like, I was, like, screaming at her, like,
21:45Jake, Jake, get up.
21:46Get up, get up.
21:47Like, that type of thing.
21:48And I called them.
21:49And then a dude came and I was outside.
21:50Then I led him into the house.
21:53I can leave, go see my family.
21:55Yeah, you can leave.
21:55I mean, no, that's not a problem.
21:56I mean, you're here voluntarily to help us out.
21:59I don't know about that, man.
22:00Like, I'm not...
22:01I didn't do nothing, but I'm just feeling, like,
22:03man, I'm comfortable.
22:04Like, like, y'all, like, y'all coming at me.
22:06Like, I just found my wife.
22:08I just wanted to see my family.
22:09Y'all coming at me, like, you know what I'm saying?
22:11Like...
22:17A couple days after Mike was initially interviewed,
22:19an article came out.
22:22I remember seeing the article.
22:23I was at work.
22:24They seemed to be accusing him
22:26of having something to do with Jonnell's death.
22:29From that time on,
22:30Mike's life changed.
22:32The students at the school were saying,
22:35you know, did Mr. Melton actually do this?
22:37There were so many unanswered questions
22:39going through my mind at the time.
22:41They removed him
22:42and put him in his own separate classroom
22:45where he couldn't be involved with the kids.
22:48Nobody wanted to be around him
22:50or even saying that they knew him
22:51because he was being looked at
22:53as a suspect for killing Jonnell.
22:56Jonnell Melton's family cut him off.
22:58They felt that he did this
23:01because of the divorce that was going on.
23:04In the town, of course,
23:05people wanted someone incarcerated for it, right?
23:08People were saying, you know,
23:09did you think that Mike actually, you know,
23:11did this to his wife?
23:12And Mike was still walking around.
23:16Weeks and weeks go by,
23:17and there's no arrest made.
23:19Mike is out there walking free.
23:22And then the police want to talk to him
23:23about duct tape and DNA.
23:26We noticed a strip of gray-colored duct tape
23:30on the floor
23:31with a small amount of blood staining on it.
23:34This item was obviously used
23:36as a binding agent
23:38to bind Jonnell Melton's hands and arms.
23:41There is a big question mark.
23:44How did Mike's DNA get on that duct tape?
23:48Mike did lawyer up.
23:50In back of our heads,
23:51we're saying,
23:51if somebody has nothing to hide,
23:53why are they asking for a lawyer?
23:55What is he hiding?
23:56Is there something that he's scared to say?
23:58Detectives are speaking with witnesses.
24:12Any type of lead that they're getting in,
24:13they're checking on.
24:14They're putting out flyers for reward money.
24:17But at that time,
24:17the investigators don't get the information
24:19that can help the case.
24:20I remember it like yesterday.
24:29They brought me into their office,
24:31sat me down,
24:32and requested me to take over this investigation.
24:36When I looked into the case,
24:37it got personal right away with me.
24:39I needed to solve this.
24:42At the time of the homicide,
24:43I was assigned to DEA.
24:45I was working narcotic cases in Monmouth County.
24:48I had tried to assist the case
24:50with some information,
24:51with some street talk.
24:52And we get this information,
24:54and we're like, holy cow.
24:56You get goosebumps.
24:58It's that missing piece of the puzzle.
25:00The puzzle's now coming together.
25:02We are going to finally find out,
25:03did Mike murder Janelle Melton?
25:20I came out here to check my husband's
25:27and sent a text message
25:28that he didn't come in today.
25:35Having been a dispatcher for 911,
25:37people are frantic from the beginning
25:39of their phone call,
25:41especially if their house is on fire.
25:43Nikki here is pretty calm and collected
25:46in the first part of the phone call.
25:48And I walked in,
25:49in the house,
25:49it's smoky.
25:51I can't get in the door.
25:52It's smoky in the house.
25:54And then, like,
25:55a light switch changes
25:56into being dramatic.
25:58Nikki, Nikki, Nikki, Nikki,
26:01calm down for me, okay?
26:02We're just Nikki, Nikki, Nikki, Nikki.
26:06You have to listen carefully
26:07to what's being said.
26:08It will give you some indications
26:10as to what happened.
26:12I came out here to check
26:14my husband's and sent a text message
26:16that he didn't come in today.
26:18Nikki indicated
26:19that she was not residing
26:20at the residence.
26:21Nikki appears to have been
26:22spending more and more time
26:23away from the home.
26:25Indicating that this marriage
26:26obviously could have
26:27some issues with it.
26:30Nikki on scene indicated
26:32that Chad was a heavy drinker,
26:35had suicidal tendencies,
26:37and had access to firearms
26:39within the house.
26:39But then, the medical examiner
26:42conducted the autopsy.
26:43Someone usually doesn't die
26:45by suicide with two gunshots.
26:48There was no soot
26:49in the lungs of the deceased,
26:51which to us indicates
26:52that that individual
26:53was deceased prior
26:55to the fire starting.
26:56So that took the case
26:58in an entirely new direction.
27:00So, let's go into chat
27:02a little bit.
27:03First off,
27:04how did you guys be?
27:05Through racing.
27:06Through racing?
27:07Yeah.
27:08Okay.
27:08So, was he racing or?
27:10Yeah, he was racing.
27:13Friends and family of Chad
27:14described him as loving,
27:17caring, just a general
27:18all-around good guy.
27:20He liked to go out
27:21and socialize.
27:22He liked to bowl.
27:24He liked to race cars.
27:26Tell me a little bit more
27:28about Chad.
27:29He started drinking more.
27:30Yeah.
27:34He just got to get mad
27:37when he drank the money,
27:38drinking everything.
27:40So he slept so hard.
27:44He heard what?
27:45He heard what?
27:47He heard what?
27:49So how was he even
27:50ready to grab anybody
27:50around you?
27:52Did it ever get worse
27:53from that, Nicky?
27:53Nicky indicated that
28:02Chad was physically abusive,
28:04but then her story
28:06starts falling apart.
28:07We're able to do a lot
28:09with digital information.
28:12We're able to go back
28:14and pull surveillance video.
28:17The investigators
28:18pull security footage
28:19from the home
28:20of Chad and Nicky.
28:25Who is your friend?
28:27Perfect purple.
28:29They see that
28:30the evening of Monday,
28:31December 30th,
28:33Nicky goes to the home
28:34with a man
28:36and takes some belongings
28:37out of the home.
28:39Chad was killed
28:40in the early morning hours
28:41of December 31st.
28:43Is he a neighbor
28:44or something or what?
28:45No, he was just
28:45in my two areas,
28:47being friends with us
28:48and everything else.
28:51Were you guys
28:51romantically involved
28:52or anything?
28:54No?
28:55Okay, so you weren't
28:55boyfriend or girlfriend
28:56or anything?
28:57No, I'm married.
28:59He's married.
29:04I'm going to say
29:04that Chad's death
29:05was not an accident.
29:07What?
29:12What do you mean?
29:14Chad, um,
29:17did not die in the fire.
29:20I need you to be honest
29:25with me on what
29:26what all goes down
29:28because I'm trying
29:28to figure out
29:29I know how
29:30I need to know why
29:32Chad,
29:33I don't know why
29:35you're sitting there.
29:36I just want him back.
29:38I just want him back.
29:40I'm trying to help you.
29:48Nikki, this is, uh,
29:49this is Joe Aarons.
29:50Hi.
29:51He's with
29:51He's with, uh,
29:53Bureau of Criminal
29:53Investigations.
29:54Hello.
29:55Hello.
29:55And, uh...
29:57I have to go, so...
29:58Sergeant Silbernagle
30:07was just letting Nikki
30:08tell her story
30:10and it was just
30:11to the point
30:12where someone needed
30:12to start confronting her.
30:13I reviewed everything
30:15and the biggest thing
30:17you need to be doing
30:18right now
30:18is you gotta be honest
30:20about everything.
30:22Investigators were looking
30:23at video footage
30:24tracking her every movement
30:26from being at work
30:28to going out
30:29to places like Walmart
30:30to traveling,
30:32bank statements.
30:34When we reviewed
30:34the footage at Walmart,
30:36it was very shocking
30:37what we discovered.
30:40Are we about done lying?
30:43Nikki and Earl
30:43are embracing,
30:44they're kissing.
30:46They very clearly appear
30:47to be in a romantic
30:48relationship.
30:49And now investigators
30:50know that Nikki
30:51isn't telling them
30:52the truth.
30:52It's more than
30:53just a friendship.
30:54I mean, there's definitely
30:55a romantic relationship
30:56there, right?
30:58She denied that
30:59it was any relationship
31:01with Earl.
31:02And then she delivers
31:03a bombshell.
31:05I'm gonna talk.
31:09The Burnley County
31:10Sheriff's Department
31:11says 42-year-old
31:12Chad Ensel
31:13was found dead
31:14in his home
31:14at the 49-year-old
31:15I walked in
31:22and the house
31:23is smoky.
31:24I can't get in the door.
31:27During Nikki's interview,
31:28she delivers
31:29a bombshell type
31:30of story to us.
31:32And then what?
31:36They argued
31:36and then what?
31:37And then I did.
31:37Okay.
31:38So that was Earl
31:39and Chad.
31:41I went out
31:42until the con
31:43and I waited.
31:44Okay.
31:46And I don't think
31:47when I said
31:47it's a little now.
31:49Why?
31:51You asked what happened.
31:52I said what happened.
31:57And what did Earl say?
32:01He's not alive.
32:03Earl said he's not alive.
32:05He's not alive.
32:06Nikki Ensel accused
32:08her lover,
32:09Earl Howard,
32:10of killing Chad.
32:13You're hurting
32:14once again.
32:17I don't want.
32:22Nikki and Earl
32:23were having an affair
32:23for more than a year
32:24prior to Chad's murder.
32:27Nikki had been telling
32:27many people
32:28that Chad was
32:29physically abusive.
32:29It's a possibility
32:36that Earl
32:36may have felt
32:37that he needed
32:38to do something
32:38to Chad
32:39to stop this abuse.
32:52After Nikki
32:54provided us
32:54that statement,
32:55we knew that Nikki
32:56was now culpable
32:57for the murder
32:58itself and she
33:00at least had provided
33:01conspiracy to
33:03commit the murder.
33:06As investigators
33:07learn more about
33:08this case and suspect
33:09that Earl may have
33:10been involved,
33:11they're able to
33:12track him down
33:12and take him
33:13into custody.
33:17I'm going to be
33:18honest with you.
33:19As investigators
33:20are interviewing
33:20Earl Howard,
33:21Nikki's story
33:22is starting to unravel
33:23and it becomes
33:24quite clear that
33:25she's not being
33:26entirely honest
33:27with them.
33:27Nikki,
33:28Sue and myself
33:28went to pick
33:29up her things.
33:30Chad comes home.
33:31We had words.
33:32He asked me
33:32to leave his home
33:33or face police.
33:37I left.
33:38I sat in her car.
33:41She came back
33:42out after that
33:43and we left.
33:47On the way
33:47back to the hotel,
33:48she said she shot Chad.
33:51I said,
33:52okay,
33:53I'll deal with it.
33:55Earl seemed to suggest
33:56that Nikki was the one
33:57who pulled the trigger.
33:58I went out to my truck,
34:00grabbed my lighter fluid,
34:02and got in her car
34:03and drove off.
34:04And when I pulled up
34:05to the house,
34:06it was laying on the floor.
34:08I went out,
34:09grabbed the propane heater,
34:11put it next to the bedspread,
34:13lit it,
34:15sprinkled the lighter fluid
34:15around,
34:16and put it on fire
34:19and I walked out.
34:20and then Earl
34:23identifies that
34:24Nikki is the main cause
34:26for all this
34:26that occurred.
34:28You could sniff out
34:29crazy eventually.
34:33She doesn't seem like
34:34she's all there
34:35all the time.
34:37I'm uncertain
34:37that police
34:38ever determined
34:40who killed Chad,
34:42whether it was
34:43Nikki or Earl,
34:45but what is clear
34:46is that they both
34:47seemed to know about it
34:48and conspired together
34:50to kill Chad and Saul.
35:13Nikki, Nikki,
35:14I need you to calm down
35:15for me, okay?
35:16Even though Nikki
35:18appears very shrill
35:19and distraught
35:20on the 911 call,
35:22incredibly,
35:23she is actually
35:24covering up
35:25her involvement
35:25in her husband's death.
35:28Individuals that lie
35:29and cheat their way
35:29through such a violent crime
35:31really are monsters
35:33in society.
35:34for over six years,
35:54Mike is a suspect
35:55in the community.
35:56He is a suspect
35:57of killing his own wife.
35:59Mike is now lawyered up.
36:00He's not speaking
36:00with police,
36:02so we were attempting
36:02to speak with
36:03a lot of our CIs,
36:05our confidential sources,
36:06to see if we could
36:06get information.
36:08There was rumors
36:08that this was done
36:09by drug dealers
36:11looking for money,
36:12possibly hitting
36:13the wrong apartment.
36:15If that information's true,
36:17then Mike was not involved
36:18in this case,
36:19and he didn't do it.
36:22I found out
36:23by the streets
36:24that the driver
36:25that took the killers
36:27to the Brighton Arms Complex
36:28was an individual
36:30named Elizabeth Pinto.
36:40Do you believe
36:42that she deserves justice?
36:44Of course.
36:45Do you believe
36:45that the husband
36:46and the mother
36:47and the sister
36:48deserve to know
36:49what happened?
36:51Of course.
36:53Tell me what happens.
36:54She starts talking
37:15about how she drove
37:16Ebenezer Berg,
37:17Gregory Jean Baptiste,
37:19and Jerry Sprawling around
37:20to commit numerous burglaries.
37:22This was their M.O.
37:23this is what these guys did,
37:24and this is what she did.
37:26She would drive for them.
37:32All right,
37:32so you brought me
37:33to this location.
37:34Why did you bring me
37:34to this location?
37:39This is where I believe
37:40I was
37:42when I dropped them off
37:44and they went
37:45across the street.
37:46When she describes
37:48driving to the apartment complex,
37:50that's where
37:51all the corroboration
37:52came together,
37:53all the pieces
37:53of the puzzle
37:54came together.
37:55When they were
37:56dressed in those things
37:56and you saw the gun
37:57and you saw the gloves
37:58and you saw...
37:59I never thought
37:59they were the killer lady.
38:00I didn't know.
38:02I didn't know.
38:04When you look
38:04at the case,
38:05I was 100% sure
38:07Mike had nothing
38:07to do with this homicide.
38:09How awful
38:09it must have been
38:11to be accused like that.
38:13He tried to commit suicide.
38:14He was an alcoholic.
38:15I wanted to try
38:16to give him his life back.
38:17When he said that,
38:20felt like that.
38:25It was a God.
38:27Six years I lived
38:28under the cloud
38:29of suspicion.
38:32I was ostracized
38:33by the community,
38:34by her family.
38:35I couldn't have
38:36no contact with no kids
38:37and I couldn't go
38:38into any school buildings.
38:40It felt like
38:41I was in hell.
38:44It seemed like
38:45everybody else in the world
38:46had turned on me.
38:46When I walked
38:53in the courtroom
38:54and I saw the guys
38:55over there,
38:56I just saw numbness
38:57on their face.
39:00I remember
39:01seeing them
39:02and I just
39:04immediately started
39:04to cry.
39:06She like,
39:06four foot eight,
39:07like,
39:08went and heard her
39:08to fly,
39:09like,
39:09why did they
39:10have to kill her?
39:14When they found out
39:15they were hitting
39:16the wrong apartment,
39:17they could have
39:17just let her go
39:19and they chose
39:20to shoot her
39:20in her head
39:21and execute her
39:22after torturing
39:23this beautiful woman.
39:28I still have a hard time
39:30trying to process
39:31that to this day
39:32and it's been 14 years.
39:33when the trial was over
39:47and that lifted that shame, guilt, and remorse off me.
40:04God has been like a brother to me.
40:08You know,
40:09you have racial divides
40:10when it comes to police
40:11and people from my community,
40:13African-American community.
40:14So,
40:15to have
40:16this white cop
40:17comes in and says,
40:18no, he don't got nothing
40:19to do with it,
40:20God sent Scott
40:21right when I really needed him
40:23because I didn't know
40:23how much longer
40:24I could go.
40:25When I walked into the house,
40:36I was like,
40:37oh my goodness,
40:37I mean,
40:38this is terrible.
40:39There was a tremendous amount
40:40of blood splatter in the room,
40:42on the walls,
40:43on the ceiling.
40:44Somebody just broke it up.
40:45You saw me.
40:47And we're going,
40:48no!
40:49This was one of the most violent scenes
40:51that I've seen.
40:52The person that called 9-1-1
40:56is a suspect.
40:58Have you got some issues
40:59with your story?
41:00Of course you do.
41:02I had no idea
41:03what we were still in for.
41:05Who shot her?
41:05I don't know.
41:06He's avoiding the question.
41:08She was showing too much emotion
41:09at some points.
41:10Oh my God, what was this?
41:11Not enough at others.
41:13When we listen to it
41:14over and over again,
41:15you start picking up little things.
41:17Who shot you?
41:18He's not giving us
41:19a good suspect description.
41:21Crying and hyperventilating.
41:23What a show she was putting on.
41:26The 9-1-1 call
41:27was all part of the plan.
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