- 8 hours ago
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00:00I bought this camcorder just like I talked to you.
00:00:05I just wanted to tell you hi, and I love you, and I miss you.
00:00:09I'm very proud of you.
00:00:11My wife got the call at home, and they said Holly was missing.
00:00:16I mean, the Army's got a missing soldier.
00:00:19That's a big deal.
00:00:20We're now inside Fort Bragg.
00:00:22One of those soldiers goes missing.
00:00:24They would just jump into action.
00:00:26We didn't know that this is someone that had kidnapped Holly or killed Holly.
00:00:32That's 146. That was her apartment.
00:00:35We could tell, looking through the back window, that place had been burned.
00:00:39She was not in there.
00:00:42Several knives were missing from the knife block.
00:00:46Then, bizarrely, a second female soldier goes missing.
00:00:50Megan Tuma, she was supposed to go to work, and she didn't show up for work.
00:00:54Are they just missing? Did they succumb to foul play?
00:00:56Like, you just don't know.
00:00:58The mirror had a very large insignia drawn on it.
00:01:02That insignia was a zodiac sign.
00:01:05While there's this massive search for Holly, these mysterious letters come in
00:01:09from a person purporting to be reenacting the zodiac murders.
00:01:14This could be the same killer.
00:01:16My name is Jesse James.
00:01:38For 17 years, we have lived with the pain of losing our daughter, Holly.
00:01:45It's something that cannot be explained in words.
00:01:50Recently, I decided to write to the person responsible for taking Holly from us.
00:01:57I'm not sure why, and I'm not sure what I'm reaching for, but it just feels like I need to express my thoughts.
00:02:10Many, many people loved Holly, and you took her from all of us.
00:02:19I still have episodes of grief that I'm unable to control.
00:02:27Why did he choose Holly?
00:02:29I've decided to reach out and try to discover that.
00:02:32So right now, I'm on my way to Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
00:02:48It's one of the largest military bases in the world.
00:02:54Some say that this base right here is America's first line of defense.
00:03:01I'm investigating a mysterious disappearance of an Army nurse.
00:03:05Her name is 2nd Lieutenant Holly Lynn James.
00:03:09When Holly fails to show up for her shift at Womack Army Medical Center,
00:03:14it causes concern because it's something totally out of character for any soldier.
00:03:22I was driving back to Fort Bragg from Iowa, and I received a text from a friend at work
00:03:27asking me when the last time I heard from Holly was.
00:03:30It was unusual. Holly was very dependable, and it's just, you know, being an Army officer,
00:03:36it was kind of unheard of to not show up for work.
00:03:39Her co-workers went to her apartment, and when they got there, they found that she wasn't there,
00:03:48and it had been set on fire.
00:03:54So they called the police.
00:03:58Pretty much as soon as Holly went missing, I heard about it.
00:04:02Our homicide team heard about it. It was very concerning.
00:04:05She had just sort of disappeared into thin air.
00:04:07This is the face of the missing Fort Bragg soldier has not been seen since Wednesday.
00:04:15Holly was driven by ambition and unshakable work ethic,
00:04:19and felt a powerful call to serve her country.
00:04:22A lot of us are military and our family, and she wanted to go out and do something great.
00:04:29Holly's younger brother, Beau, a Marine himself, says that Holly had found her calling.
00:04:35As a nurse, were you pretty proud of her?
00:04:38Absolutely, yeah. They're absolutely lifesavers.
00:04:44She wanted to go to Iraq.
00:04:47I said, why would you want to go to Iraq, to the war zone?
00:04:50And she said, Dad, I just think I can help soldiers if I'm out there as a first responder in a war zone.
00:04:58I can do more good and help more soldiers.
00:05:01Although Holly never served in combat and was ultimately stationed in the U.S., she was going places.
00:05:08And by age 23, I had become a second lieutenant in the United States Army.
00:05:13Even though I was a sergeant major, she was technically a higher rank than me starting out, you know, and I was pretty proud of that.
00:05:21They assigned her to the mother-baby ward at Womack.
00:05:26She just always wanted to be in the thick of things.
00:05:29She was a floor nurse. She loved helping people all the time.
00:05:33And she really loved children.
00:05:36Actually, at the time, Holly was raising a couple of children on her own, born from a relationship with her ex-boyfriend from her hometown of Dubuque, Iowa.
00:05:44Then in 2007, she met this 22-year-old Marine Corporal John Y. Monk, a combat engineer who was stationed along with her brother, Beau, at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.
00:05:57Colonel Kirk Cordova was John Y. Monk's commanding officer.
00:06:01He's a non-commissioned officer working towards being a sergeant and probably one of the best ranks in the Marine Corps.
00:06:06So he was very proficient, I can tell you that.
00:06:11We deployed together. A lot of times we were looking for explosives or blowing things up.
00:06:17He was very good at our robots that we used for looking for explosives or setting them.
00:06:24I was embedded in the war zone with the Marines in the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
00:06:30The level of danger was similar to what they experienced.
00:06:34Marines continue to bring their heavy armor north.
00:06:37And you realize just how intense their jobs really are.
00:06:41Why did you decide you wanted to introduce him to your sister, Holly?
00:06:45Everything he said just seemed so funny.
00:06:48And I thought Holly deserved some humor in her life too.
00:06:52She outranked him. She was an officer and he was an enlisted man, a lower enlisted man.
00:07:00The couple eventually married and shared an apartment together in Fayetteville, just outside the gates of Fort Bragg.
00:07:07Why Monk lived two hours away at Camp Lejeune, but would visit on weekends.
00:07:13Holly and John seemed happy. It seemed like a good match.
00:07:17Being a dual military couple, it's just that extra layer of complication.
00:07:22You're just apart quite a bit.
00:07:25During Why Monk's deployment, Holly bridged the distance with heartfelt video messages.
00:07:31I bought this camcorder just like I talked to you.
00:07:34I just wanted to tell you hi and I'm with you and I miss you. I'm very proud of you.
00:07:39There was a number of videos that she had made for him, you know, and they were sweet.
00:07:45I'm pretty excited you'll be here in two more.
00:07:49She would talk about, you know, how much she loved him, how much she was looking forward to him coming back.
00:07:54I didn't talk to you so I just wanted to send you a quick hand and let you know that everything is okay.
00:08:00Just being a sweet gal.
00:08:02Together they were rising in the military ranks.
00:08:06Newly married, full of hope, but everything would change on that terrible night Hollywood missing.
00:08:13There is still no official word on the whereabouts and the fate of Army Lieutenant Holly Wymonk.
00:08:19Investigators speak with Wymonk, who says that he was hours away at Camp Lejeune and knew nothing about Holly's whereabouts.
00:08:28My wife got the call at home and they said Holly was missing.
00:08:34Police and federal investigators are on the case. Crime scene tape surrounds the apartment complex.
00:08:40I began to see reports on the internet. The first report I saw was the police there, the military there, and they were towing her car away from the apartment complex.
00:08:52There was a lot of interest locally and nationally about what had happened to Holly.
00:08:57I had reporters on my doorstep. They were asking if I knew anything about Holly, what could I tell them? I think that's when I realized it was bigger than what I was imagining.
00:09:07At this point, we didn't know if this was a random act of violence that occurred or if this is someone that had kidnapped Holly or killed Holly.
00:09:17It's currently under investigation and we're working with Fort Bragg trying to locate this person.
00:09:24People are scared, people are worried, and they've got to go fast to try to find her.
00:09:29It was all happening so rapidly, so quick.
00:09:33You decided to fly out to see exactly what's happening.
00:09:38I did.
00:09:39But your main job was really to find her.
00:09:42I came here on a mission. I was scared to death because I was afraid of what I was going to find.
00:09:51And when investigators are given the all clear to enter Holly's apartment.
00:09:56There was a note that had survived the fire.
00:10:00This letter.
00:10:01What or who will they uncover?
00:10:04Oh, look at the cheeks there.
00:10:16I know. Huge cheeks, you know.
00:10:21She's adorable.
00:10:22Really very cute, huh?
00:10:25She was a little daddy's girl.
00:10:27She loved working at that hospital.
00:10:29I had no doubt she was going to stay in the Army because she loved it that much.
00:10:35She found the job she loves.
00:10:37Yep, she did.
00:10:41She was up for the challenge.
00:10:43And from what I know, I think she did great.
00:10:46She worked really hard so she'd be able to get a good life and a good job to be able to raise us better.
00:10:52At the time of Holly's disappearance in July of 2008,
00:10:57her children, Harper just seven and three-year-old Kendall,
00:11:01were far from the chaos visiting their father back in Iowa.
00:11:05We were not there when our mom went missing.
00:11:07Authorities finally released the name and picture of Second Lieutenant Holly Wymonk,
00:11:11a nurse at Womack Army Medical Center.
00:11:14You decided to fly out to see exactly what's happening.
00:11:19I did. You know, my first thought was go to the media like I've seen other families do.
00:11:24Ask Holly to surface or if somebody's got Holly, ask them to bring her back, you know.
00:11:31And then I thought, I should do that from Fayetteville.
00:11:34I should do that from Fort Bragg.
00:11:36Because if she is around there, you know, I can say, here I am, right here.
00:11:41And you can come to see me.
00:11:44We're in constant contact with the family.
00:11:47What exactly did the investigators tell you?
00:11:50Well, that evening when I got here and I met with the chief of detectives,
00:11:56one of the first questions I said is, is my daughter dead?
00:11:59And he said, we can't say that.
00:12:01He said, because that hasn't been proven.
00:12:04But he said, I can tell you we have grave, grave concern.
00:12:07Once the flames were out, investigators combed through the charred remains of Holly's apartment, searching for anything the fire had not destroyed.
00:12:17For the second day in a row, state and federal agents scoured the young woman's burned apartment.
00:12:22The case would soon fall to Detective Jeff Locklear of the Fayetteville Police Department.
00:12:27The man tasked with uncovering what happened to Holly.
00:12:31What was your reaction when you learned that the woman that's missing was a soldier?
00:12:39My partner and I, we were surprised.
00:12:42At that time, you know, the whole city was kind of on edge.
00:12:46How far are we from her apartment?
00:12:48So as the crow flies, maybe a mile, not very far at all.
00:12:52All of that stuff was pretty centralized around the mall area of Fayetteville.
00:12:56Holly's apartment sits along this busy stretch of road, just five miles outside the gates of Fort Bragg, where she worked as an army nurse.
00:13:04And her apartment building was actually the first building that you come to on the right.
00:13:09Down here, 146.
00:13:10Yep, 146.
00:13:13Well, as soon as we got here, we could tell, you know, looking through the back window,
00:13:17that place had been burned.
00:13:19She, of course, was not in there.
00:13:21What's the first thing you saw when you walked in?
00:13:23Well, I think a better question would be what was the first thing that I smelled?
00:13:27And that was gasoline.
00:13:28And there was so much gasoline in the apartment poured on the floor and on the carpet
00:13:32that as my partner and I would walk, it would kind of gush up next to our shoe.
00:13:37The fire department was really concerned.
00:13:39They said the spark could light this whole place up.
00:13:41Why was it the building was not completely burnt to the ground?
00:13:44Anybody can strike a match, but you got to know, you got to have enough air.
00:13:48With this amount of gasoline that was poured in the apartment, they didn't have enough air.
00:13:53They should have left the door open to have vented it more and we would have had a more complete fire.
00:13:58So this was an arson, but not a very talented arson.
00:14:00Exactly.
00:14:01So in 2008, I was a forensic technician dispatched via radio to respond now to an apartment fire at that time.
00:14:10I initially just started taking photographs around.
00:14:12There's a certain level of emotion that teeters on excitement and anxiousness because you're kind of afraid of what you might find.
00:14:25By the front door, investigators discovered Holly's purse, still holding her ID, credit cards, her keys and phone.
00:14:33For the detectives, the abandoned belongings are a red flag.
00:14:37Typically, being a woman myself, if I were to go off somewhere, my purse and at least my personal belongings, credit cards, things of that nature would have come with.
00:14:48As investigators push deeper into the apartment, the kitchen reveals its own disturbing clue.
00:14:54I noticed that there was a knife block sitting over on the counter and several knives were missing from the knife block.
00:15:03We couldn't find any of those knives, like in a drawer or maybe dirty in the sink.
00:15:07They were missing from that house altogether.
00:15:10We knew that could have been used as some sort of a weapon, so we certainly took note of that as well.
00:15:17The missing knives raised the grim possibility that Holly was stabbed.
00:15:22There were also signs of blood spatter in her bedroom along with another disturbing piece of evidence.
00:15:29Probably one of the most alarming things about the master bedroom is, one, the carpet, the large amount of carpet that had been cut from around the door frame.
00:15:40It was almost, you know, carved precisely to cut out a specific shape.
00:15:46All of the bedding had been removed to include the pillowcases, so that was a little out of the norm as well of a home that had been lived in where there was absolutely no bed laying on it at all.
00:15:57Then eagle-eyed detectives spot something easy to miss, a single bullet hole in the closet door.
00:16:05Something potentially could have occurred right in front of the closet.
00:16:08Amid the devastation, one piece of evidence survived, and it would become the investigation's biggest clue.
00:16:16I just happened to notice an odd scrap of paper in the middle of the hallway.
00:16:20Then once I uncrumpled the ball of paper, I notified Detective Locklear that there was a message on it.
00:16:27A note survived the fire.
00:16:29This, this, this letter.
00:16:31We just thought it might have just been some trash and refuge, whatever, until we unraveled it.
00:16:37Can you read that?
00:16:38It says something to the effect of,
00:16:39she shot herself and I tried to make it look like an accident.
00:16:44The note scrawled in jagged handwriting and unsigned, hinted at Holly's fate, but raised more questions than answers.
00:16:52It wasn't consistent with what we were seeing, but obviously it was an important piece of evidence that we took note of.
00:16:59Was the note a confession or a calculated attempt to throw investigators off the trail?
00:17:05Even the smallest details are something that it may be insignificant now, but down the line it might be one of the most critical pieces of evidence that you have.
00:17:13When Holly's father arrives at the scene, the evidence looks grim, and yet he holds out hope.
00:17:20I believed Holly was alive. I said, I'm going to work to try to get her back here, and I'm going to do everything that I could do to try to get her back.
00:17:28The thought was that she still could be alive and that we could find her, but we knew this also could be alive.
00:17:34This also could end very tragically.
00:17:37And with an active-duty soldier missing, the U.S. Army Search and Rescue Mission kicks into high gear.
00:17:44I mean, the Army's got a missing soldier, and that's a big deal.
00:17:47We'll dedicate as many people as we have because this is one of our own. It's a sister.
00:17:51This young mother, this soldier is missing. The clock was ticking.
00:17:56But where was Holly? And is there a hidden secret in this last photo taken of her before she vanished?
00:18:08We're now inside Fort Bragg, North Carolina, about 250 square miles, about 50,000 active-duty soldiers.
00:18:29Fort Bragg is a city unto itself, sprawling, relentless, and brimming with power.
00:18:37Soldiers here often call it the center of the military universe.
00:18:42And when 2nd Lieutenant Holly James goes missing, the U.S. Army mobilizes fast, launching an all-out search, working around the clock to find answers.
00:18:52Special Agent Al Diaz is the man in charge of the Army's Criminal Investigation Division at Fort Bragg.
00:19:00What do you remember when the news came out that Holly was missing?
00:19:04Just like any time a service member shows her missing, there's just that natural sense of concern.
00:19:09And then what we can do to help local law enforcement find her.
00:19:13Does it become 24 hours a day?
00:19:15Absolutely. I mean, you want to put as much effort and resources to it until you find the individual.
00:19:20Are they just missing? Did they succumb to foul play? Like, you just don't know.
00:19:25Fort Bragg sits like a fortress. At its heart is Womack Medical Center, where Holly worked as an Army nurse.
00:19:32With 13 access points in and out, CID's task was clear.
00:19:36Reconstruct Holly's every step in the days before she vanished.
00:19:43Adam Armstrong is a Special Agent with CID.
00:19:47All right, so you get the call from the police about what was happening that afternoon.
00:19:52So when we get that, we'll immediately get a picture of her out, so we can start working on the reward posters and all that.
00:19:58And then we start figuring out, okay, how can we start putting together elements to go out and start searching?
00:20:04Tell us where we're going.
00:20:06Right now, we're just heading back to the one side of base where Holly was last seen.
00:20:12Investigators learned that just two nights before she was reported missing, Holly had been seen at a late-night softball game on base.
00:20:21So this is the last place that she was seen.
00:20:25Right here on the right-hand side.
00:20:26So this was the 8th, two days before they discovered that she was missing. This is where she was.
00:20:32And so a Sergeant First Class had invited her out to come watch. And then after the game, she actually approached him.
00:20:39He actually helped out a lot. Played a big role in understanding the last time that she was seen.
00:20:44This is the last photo of Holly taken just before she disappeared.
00:20:50He said she was happy that night, bubbly, and just seemed to be in good spirits.
00:20:56Over at the cell phone analysis, they were able to identify that she did leave the base and she did make it home.
00:21:06Something had happened to Holly. You just felt like you had to get here.
00:21:11Had to come.
00:21:12While Army investigators combed the base, Holly's father, Jesse James, launches his own search for answers.
00:21:19I had to get to Fort Bragg, so I had to think about how I was going to get sort of control of the situation.
00:21:27Your father was on a mission to try to figure out what happened to his daughter, to your sister.
00:21:33Absolutely. He was on a mission, and 10 seconds of hearing that his daughter was missing, he wasn't going to let it go, nor should he.
00:21:41Thinking about my grandfather dropping everything to fly to Fayetteville and find her, that's a man who loves his daughter.
00:21:53And it shows how loving and caring he is, and how deeply he loves his family.
00:21:58The thought occurred to me that I'm going to go to the bank and see if she had any charges on her checking account or credit card since she disappeared.
00:22:08I got up and drove over to the bank. I said, are there any recent charges in the past day to her credit card or her checking account?
00:22:20A bank attorney confirms that there had been activity on Holly's account. Charges dated the very day she vanished.
00:22:29So there was hope.
00:22:31Oh, let's see. I walked away stepping lightly, as quickly as I could.
00:22:36Called Detective Locklear, and he almost hung up on me.
00:22:39He wanted to call that bank to get a warrant to get the checking account information.
00:22:44But to Jesse's disappointment, what seems like a promising lead goes nowhere.
00:22:49It turns out those transactions were older ones, charges that had only just been cleared.
00:22:55Took all the wind out of me and was right back where we started.
00:23:01Desperate for answers, Jesse comes here to Holly's workplace at Womack Medical Center to try to retrace his daughter's footsteps.
00:23:13So this is where she was, huh?
00:23:16It is where she was.
00:23:18The morning after I got here, I just walked in and introduced myself, and I could just feel a shockwave go through the unit, you know,
00:23:26because they were experiencing it just like we were.
00:23:30She loved these people, and she loved the people she worked with.
00:23:35I could sense a presence here of Holly.
00:23:39I could see her just running the hall. She never walked slow.
00:23:42I could see her just rushing through these hallways, and I could feel that.
00:23:46And I thought, I just might be putting my feet where her feet were.
00:23:50And that affected me.
00:23:53Days into the investigation, there is still no sign of Holly.
00:23:57But then an unexpected twist, a possible link to another female soldier who had also gone missing from Fort Bragg.
00:24:06These mysterious letters come into the Fayetteville Observer as well as the Fayetteville Police Department.
00:24:11CID said, look, we got a second female soldier that's missing and has possibly been harmed.
00:24:17We wondered, could this be connected to Holly's case?
00:24:20Are we dealing with a copycat here?
00:24:22A disturbing letter marked with a chilling symbol.
00:24:26And there it is on that mirror in the lipstick.
00:24:29And could there be a connection to Holly?
00:24:32I'm like, this has never happened.
00:24:34It's like something you see in a movie.
00:24:51When I left the crime scene, I didn't think that we would find her alive.
00:24:55Summer of 2008, Holly Lynn James has vanished.
00:25:02Teams of investigators searched for clues in her burned-out apartment near Fort Bragg Army base.
00:25:08But it turns out Holly's not the only female soldier in the area to go missing that June.
00:25:14And right at the same time, there's two different investigations, also with soldiers, also females.
00:25:21It's two females now.
00:25:23Both are in the military.
00:25:25And both of the situations are nothing about them as normal.
00:25:30It was getting interesting here at the Fayetteville Police Department.
00:25:37About a month before Holly disappeared, another female soldier from Fort Bragg went missing.
00:25:42The police got a call saying that there was a strange odor coming out of this hotel.
00:25:47And that took a chilling turn.
00:25:52A deceased person was located inside room 143.
00:25:57She was dressed in a bathing suit, almost as like she had just left the pool.
00:26:01And then when the maintenance guy found her, the water was still running in the bathtub.
00:26:06She was submerged in the bathtub.
00:26:08And so there was water everywhere.
00:26:10There was actually a towel along the bottom edge of the door.
00:26:14So whoever had done it was thinking ahead.
00:26:17And so that way the water couldn't get out to alert anybody.
00:26:20This room had been rented to a Megan Tuma.
00:26:25Megan was a soldier, an active duty soldier.
00:26:2823-year-old Megan Tuma was a dental specialist who had been with the Army for five years.
00:26:32Her body was found in a hotel room June 21st.
00:26:35She was seven months pregnant and may have been dead for days.
00:26:40Megan Tuma had newly transferred to Fort Bragg from a military base in Germany.
00:26:46She was supposed to go to work and she didn't show up for work.
00:26:48They did not notice that she was missing.
00:26:53She's found on the 21st of June.
00:26:55The last time she was seen, I believe, was 15 June.
00:26:57And so there's about a six-day gap.
00:26:59And then the hotel that she was staying in, off post, she had one of those do not disturbs on.
00:27:03And so that's why she was in there for a lengthy time without anybody coming in.
00:27:07So she was in an advanced state of decomposition.
00:27:10Some evidence of a struggle.
00:27:12Some of what we believe to be blood, light blood transfer on the wall.
00:27:16So she was murdered in that hotel.
00:27:19The autopsy revealed she had been strangled.
00:27:22We flipped the switch then and it went to a homicide investigation.
00:27:26There was something else in the room, though, that made us really suspicious.
00:27:30The mirror outside the bathroom had a very large insignia drawn on it.
00:27:36And lipstick.
00:27:40That insignia that was drawn there was the zodiac sign.
00:27:45A couple days later, we get a letter through the mail from a person purporting to be somebody who is reenacting the zodiac murders from the West Coast.
00:27:56From 1968 to 1974, several newspapers in the San Francisco area received a series of anonymous letters from the self-proclaimed
00:28:05zodiac killer who claimed credit for up to 37 murders.
00:28:11The 2007 movie, Zodiac, put one of America's biggest unsolved murder cases on the big screen.
00:28:17It's unsigned except for a symbol.
00:28:22Is it me?
00:28:23Does that look like a gun sign?
00:28:25A letter has surfaced claiming the murder is a work of a serial killer.
00:28:30Good morning, Robin. That letter certainly has gotten everyone's attention.
00:28:34In a twisted case with very few leads, police have been forced to pay particular attention to this letter sent to a local newspaper.
00:28:40The writer signed the letter with a symbol made famous by the infamous zodiac killer of the 1960s.
00:28:46The Fayetteville Observer received a letter, and this is what the letter said.
00:28:52I am responsible for the dead body that was found on Saturday, June 21st at 1130 in room 143.
00:28:59I confess that I have killed many times before in several states, but now I will start using my role model's signature.
00:29:08We were sitting down in a meeting with CID about this exact letter when we got the call to go out to Holly's apartment.
00:29:18We were like, what is going on here?
00:29:20It's like something you see in a movie.
00:29:22The guy's trying to communicate with the police by way of mail.
00:29:25And you're looking at the possibility this could be the same killer.
00:29:29Of course, the same symbol is on the bottom of this letter that was written on the mirror in the hotel room and the lipstick.
00:29:38So, it's, it's, we're dealing with a copycat here.
00:29:42We very much thought that it was a possibility these were connected.
00:29:46Was Holly this killer's next victim, which would have been just a couple of weeks after Megan Tooman's murder.
00:29:52So, it was certainly of, of interest and of concern in the disappearance of Holly.
00:29:59The public was demanding answers.
00:30:02Now people are making phone calls, they're calling the chief, the city council,
00:30:07hey, is there a serial killer in Fayetteville?
00:30:09But as investigators dig deeper into the Megan Tooman case, they begin to question that serial killer theory.
00:30:16Detectives are able to uncover evidence that her murder might have been a highly personal one.
00:30:23And the trail leads to someone very close to her.
00:30:27She had began a relationship with an individual and she had become pregnant.
00:30:32As a result of that relationship, well, it turns out he was married.
00:30:36He was in the military in the same base in Germany that Megan was assigned to.
00:30:41And we did a search warrant on his house and you wouldn't believe it, he was actually actively taking the crime scene class at a local college here in Fayetteville.
00:30:52Authorities began to close in on the man that they think might be responsible for Megan's murder.
00:30:58And in that parallel investigation, detectives also uncover evidence that Holly's disappearance also might not have been random.
00:31:06That it too could have been a highly personal crime.
00:31:09It was obvious that something terrible had happened to Holly.
00:31:13And we were fairly certain that it was someone close to her that had done it.
00:31:18Could a woman connected to John Wymonk with a possible grudge against Holly be responsible for her disappearance?
00:31:27She was a threat. She was a threat.
00:31:28Two women stationed at Fort Bragg have met with tragedy. Fayetteville, North Carolina is a town on edge.
00:31:48I think it's horrible what happened. Stop sharing your tracks.
00:31:52The community was scared. It sort of put a lot of pressure on us as well. The public is wanting to know what are we doing about it.
00:32:00But then a huge development in the Megan Tuma case as Fayetteville police close in on the person they suspect is responsible for her murder.
00:32:12Police in North Carolina are expected to offer details today about the death of a pregnant Fort Bragg soldier.
00:32:17Who was it that was ultimately found to be the murderer in this case?
00:32:22The person that was responsible for taking Megan Tuma's life was Edgar Pitino. He was the father of her child that she was carrying.
00:32:30And then the person claiming to have killed her had sent letters to the newspaper and to the police claiming to be like the Zodiac Killer.
00:32:41We were able to prove that the letters that were sent were typed at our suspect's house by a typewriter in our suspect's room.
00:32:49Edgar was also married at the time and he had killed Megan Tuma because she was pregnant with a child and yet he was still married and he was still married.
00:33:00And he wanted to remain with his wife.
00:33:03And he's the one that set that crime scene up. He's the one that drew that Zodiac sign on the mirror.
00:33:10Tino was playing games with the cops trying to be too clever for his own good and lead them astray and I don't think they ever really bought it.
00:33:18So at that point we had ruled out that the killer of Megan Tuma was also the killer or person responsible for the disappearance of Holly.
00:33:30So now the race is on to find the culprit behind Holly's disappearance.
00:33:36A review of the evidence at the crime scene as investigators convinced that Holly knew her assailant.
00:33:42There was no evidence that there was an intruder who had forced their way into the home through the door through a window or something like that.
00:33:52We never thought that some stranger walking down Morganton Road just decided to peep through this girl's window and do all of this.
00:34:00We were fairly certain that the person that had done all these things knew her and that she knew that person.
00:34:10Did it seem to indicate that this may have been done by somebody who knew the details of that apartment.
00:34:17Holly either let that person in or that person made his way into the apartment by some other means possibly by a key.
00:34:23Detectives believe that whoever was in Holly's apartment also tried to cover up evidence of what happened there.
00:34:32We found actually a carpet cleaner and we tested that carpet cleaner and it tested positive for blood on a preliminary test.
00:34:39Just from what I'd seen, the reaction we got from the luminol, the amount of carpet that was cut from the floor in the bedroom, the bed sheets and clothing and stuff had been taken off the bed.
00:34:53All those were indicators for me that there had been at least some measure of crime scene cleanup that had tried to take place.
00:35:01Whoever did this might have tried to cover their tracks, but that crumpled letter was left behind.
00:35:09It appeared that whoever wrote that note was inside the apartment when this terrible thing happened to Holly, but it does not identify who they were or what their relationship to Holly was.
00:35:20The person that wrote this letter is the person that tried to burn that apartment, which is the person that knows where Holly's at.
00:35:27That's the way I was looking at it.
00:35:28At the time of Holly's disappearance, we knew she was going through a tumultuous time in her life.
00:35:36As investigators look into Holly's personal life for clues, they learned that about eight months before she went missing, Holly had filed a request for a temporary restraining order against an ex-girlfriend of her husband named Lindsey.
00:35:49In the filing, Holly alleges that for 18 months, the defendant has continuously posted pictures of herself and my spouse on the Internet with comments directed at me and claims I have changed my phone number six times.
00:36:04Holly would always call Lindsey John's little girlfriend.
00:36:11I think there was a lot of yelling and a lot of swearing.
00:36:17Holly was getting exhausted because of the bombardment.
00:36:22I think she was just at the end of her rope.
00:36:25Lindsey denied harassing Holly.
00:36:28In fact, she tells investigators Holly was the one harassing her.
00:36:33And she was never served with Holly's request for a restraining order.
00:36:37She was considered threat.
00:36:38That's why we wanted to look at her, because we had to consider her.
00:36:42But when investigators talk to her, she denies having anything to do with Holly's disappearance.
00:36:50They also discover she had an alibi on the date Holly disappeared.
00:36:54What did she say?
00:36:55She provided a full breakdown of her timeline leading up to the disappearance of Holly.
00:37:00She was not in Fayetteville to deny Holly went missing.
00:37:03So there was no evidence whatsoever to charge her for what happened to Holly.
00:37:08She had no criminal culpability in this at all.
00:37:11While Lindsey is fully cleared, investigators say she provides them with some revealing information
00:37:18about John Weinmunk's activities the night of Holly's disappearance.
00:37:22She actually told us about a phone call that she had with John.
00:37:26And John said that he was actually on his way to Fayetteville.
00:37:29So that was a key piece of evidence for us.
00:37:31When she called him, he was like, I'm on my way. I can't do this anymore.
00:37:35Why would he reveal this to her?
00:37:37That's what we had to look at.
00:37:39As investigators learn more about John Weinmunk, they decide to bring him in again to answer questions about his wife's disappearance.
00:37:46I'm at the point where I have no idea what's going on, okay?
00:37:50This is my wife. What the f*** has become my wife?
00:37:53That's what we're all trying to find out.
00:37:56And a shocking discovery in the middle of nowhere will bring yet another Marine into the frame.
00:38:02Guess where I just come from?
00:38:04There's soot and dirt on my shoe.
00:38:07Why do you think there's soot and dirt on my shoe?
00:38:09How am I supposed to be if anybody could be safe?
00:38:22For God's sake, son, I need to find this woman. I need to... I gotta do something for these kids.
00:38:26You know that everything's okay.
00:38:28I'll talk to you later, baby.
00:38:30Tell him it's a Chevy.
00:38:31It's a Chevy!
00:38:33This young mother, this soldier is missing. The clock was ticking.
00:38:39What the f*** is going on with my wife? You know what I mean?
00:38:42That's what we're all trying to find out.
00:38:44Here was a mysterious person running through the parking lot and getting into a black pickup truck.
00:38:49Today's the day of salvation. You better get on board right now.
00:38:53What he specifically said is, are y'all looking for a blonde girl?
00:38:56If you somehow committed a perfect murder and left no evidence, you could get away with it.
00:39:04He said, what's the worst thing I've ever done?
00:39:06He said, the worst thing I've ever done is...
00:39:09He carved her name into a bullet and told her, this one's for you.
00:39:14It's come to Jesus time. Now you tell me. Tell me the rest of it. Tell me the rest of it.
00:39:18Tell me the rest of it.
00:39:34For many years, I woke up at 4 a.m., went to the basement so I could cry, and called out for my daughter.
00:39:41When I had contacted you, I had no idea it would be so complicated.
00:39:51You stole my daughter from me.
00:39:54Holly was a second lieutenant nurse corps officer.
00:40:04She was assigned to Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Brite.
00:40:08All of her patients loved her. Her co-workers loved her.
00:40:12That morning of the 10th of July, that was the first indication that something strange had happened.
00:40:18She didn't show up for work, and she wouldn't answer any of the calls from her friends.
00:40:23And for them, that was a big deal.
00:40:25Her co-workers there became concerned, so they went to her apartment and found that it had been set on fire.
00:40:34What the scene did tell us was that something horrible had happened inside that apartment.
00:40:43You just don't know the full extent of what has occurred, but you're also kind of afraid of what you might find.
00:40:49Your father was on a mission to try to figure out what happened to his daughter.
00:40:53He was on a mission, and he wasn't going to let it go.
00:40:57I was living like in two different worlds, I think.
00:41:00One believing that she's alive, another that she's dead.
00:41:06This young mother, this soldier is missing.
00:41:10The clock was ticking.
00:41:12There was a lot of pressure on us.
00:41:16It had been three days since Holly James had disappeared.
00:41:19Police had taken a close look at John Wymonk's former girlfriend, but investigators discovered that she had an alibi for the night Holly went missing and was nowhere near Fayetteville.
00:41:32What was her demeanor when you were talking to her investigating?
00:41:35She was scared that she had been drawn into this mess.
00:41:39She was ruled out as a suspect in the investigation, but she had provided information that was helpful.
00:41:46Investigators say the former girlfriend is able to provide them with an inside look at the relationship between John and Holly.
00:41:54They had been married for approximately a year, but towards the end of this one-year marriage, it had become rather complicated between them.
00:42:02Holly's brother, Beau, says the phone calls between John and Holly were becoming increasingly volatile.
00:42:10He would be on the phone, and then he would be just screaming at her.
00:42:13You're watching him scream, and you could hear your sister Holly reacting to that.
00:42:18What was she doing?
00:42:19Crying, telling him to stop.
00:42:20And I felt like, well, I need to say something, but at the same time I thought, well, this is a married couple.
00:42:26I thought about if somebody tried doing that to me, it might upset me.
00:42:29As investigators looked deeper into their relationship, they learned from friends close to Holly that John seemed insecure that he held a lower rank than his wife.
00:42:41I think it was something of a resentment that she was a woman and she outranked him.
00:42:50John Y. Monk was a corporal?
00:42:53Yes.
00:42:54So his level of skills was pretty high-end?
00:42:58I would say it was good.
00:43:00He's still honing his skills and still learning.
00:43:03Her being an officer, she outranked him, and he would always tell her, you're not a real officer, things like that, just putting her down.
00:43:13We had a non-commissioned officer married to an army second lieutenant.
00:43:18It just doesn't happen.
00:43:21That's the first time in my whole career that I had seen something like that.
00:43:26According to Holly's friends, it was clear that John's attitude and frequent yelling directed towards his wife,
00:43:33and distance between their bases was putting a strain on their relationship.
00:43:38I didn't talk to you, so I just wanted to send you a quick hug and let you know that everything's okay.
00:43:45They lived two and a half hours apart.
00:43:47Eventually, their marriage became estranged.
00:43:51She had put up with the emotional abuse, and I think she finally realized that it wasn't going to get any better.
00:43:58And as investigators continued to dig, they began to realize that the alleged abuse may have been more than emotional.
00:44:06We had done a number of interviews with her friends, some of the ladies that worked with her at Womack.
00:44:11The first thing they told us was how violent John had been in the past.
00:44:16Armed with these insights into Holly and John's marriage, investigators head to Camp Lejeune to talk with him.
00:44:25This is where the Marines are. They have a lot of questions for Holly's husband, John Wymonk, about where he was and what he did that night.
00:44:35NCIS agent brought him in from the command, interviewed him just to try and figure out what was going on and what he knew about Holly's whereabouts.
00:44:46Hey, John. Here's my guys, buddy.
00:44:49Hey, John.
00:44:50How you doing, sir?
00:44:51Let me set this hot coffee down, buddy.
00:44:53How you doing?
00:44:54John?
00:44:55Jeff Locklear.
00:44:56I want to pay you a bill.
00:44:58He expressed that there were concerns for his wife, that he did not know where she was.
00:45:04I'm at the point where I have no idea what's going on, okay?
00:45:08This is my wife.
00:45:10Everybody knows that.
00:45:12That is my apartment.
00:45:14What the is going on with my wife?
00:45:17You know what I mean?
00:45:18That's what we're all trying to find out, man.
00:45:21After a brief conversation, the agent conducting the interview noticed a smell of alcohol and that Corporal Wymonk was likely intoxicated or under the influence of alcohol.
00:45:32I have been drinking.
00:45:33Okay.
00:45:34And I don't want the things that I say to be turned around.
00:45:38I don't want to talk with you now that, you know, I can smell the odor of alcohol.
00:45:43I don't want to talk to you about legal stuff while that's even a question in my mind.
00:45:47Let's handle all that tomorrow.
00:45:49So he's free to go.
00:45:50He's not in custody or whatever.
00:45:51So what did you learn in this investigation here?
00:45:54It gives me a chance to look him in his eye.
00:45:57It gives me a chance to smell him.
00:45:59There's a difference between regular sweating and stress sweating.
00:46:03You can smell that guy.
00:46:04Really?
00:46:05So you knew at that point?
00:46:06Yeah.
00:46:07He ain't telling me everything, right?
00:46:10In any type of case where we have a missing person, we have suspicious circumstances.
00:46:15I mean, the spouse is obviously a person of interest.
00:46:18NCIS will immediately look at them and try to establish, are they related or are they unrelated?
00:46:23Either way.
00:46:24We continue to gather evidence to interview people, really focus in on John's movements and whereabouts around July 9th.
00:46:35But as investigators focus their attention on John Weinmonk, they are also conducting a canvas of Holly's apartment complex and get a tip that is about to pay off in a big way.
00:46:47Here was a mysterious person running through the parking lot and getting into a black pickup truck.
00:46:53It gave us something to go on.
00:46:56It was a turning point in the investigation.
00:46:58As investigators continue their urgent search for any leads linked to Holly's disappearance, they get their first big break in the case at her apartment complex.
00:47:23We began interviewing neighbors. Did anybody see anything? Did anybody hear anything?
00:47:32We interviewed one young lady and she said that the night that apartment was burned, she was outside walking her dog.
00:47:40And she said that she saw a guy running through the shadows. She said he was purposely trying to stay in the shadows and that he had dark clothing on and that he was a white male.
00:47:54She did distinctly remember him running out to a truck.
00:47:58It gave us something to go on.
00:48:01Investigators talked to anyone involved in Holly's life to find out more details about that truck and who it may have belonged to, including at Camp Lejeune where she often spent time with her husband.
00:48:15As the police canvassed and interviewed people at Camp Lejeune, they found out that a young Marine named Kyle had been asking around about borrowing a pickup truck to help a friend move some things.
00:48:27And that was in the time period that Holly had disappeared.
00:48:31Kyle is in fact Lance Corporal Kyle Alden and investigators discover the identity of the man who he said he was helping to move.
00:48:40It was none other than Holly's husband, John Weimark.
00:48:44This became a very important piece of information. So we wanted to talk to Kyle and see if we could connect the dots.
00:48:50Hey buddy. Hey, I'm Locklear.
00:48:55Alden is brought in for an interview at Camp Lejeune with Detective Jeff Locklear.
00:49:01This apartment, we gotta fire an apartment.
00:49:04Yes sir.
00:49:05Okay.
00:49:06Do you know who owns that apartment? Without me even getting the specifics, go ahead and tell me who owns the apartment in Fayneville. Who used to live there?
00:49:14John Weimark.
00:49:15John Weimark. And you know John?
00:49:16Yes sir.
00:49:17It's okay.
00:49:18So you have all this evidence. You go to interview Alden. You treat him like your buddy to be somebody you want to be nice to.
00:49:27… never had to raise my voice to him. We were cussing and yelling at him. We weren't accusing him of anything, just going through and stuff.
00:49:35and kind of set the stage for him to begin to let his guard down so and uh you guys get the fade bill
00:49:44when you went and picked up the stuff we get the fade bill walked to the back of the apartment
00:49:48building grabbed the grill left it over the railing and put it in the truck so you guys
00:49:55didn't go inside his old apartment no sir kyle alden tells locklear that he and y monk went to
00:50:02holly's apartment but could not get inside he then says that they left he went back home to go
00:50:09sleep with his wife but it turns out that locklear had already spoken to alden's wife she says i don't
00:50:18know what the heck's going on okay but not only that but he's telling me to cover him okay
00:50:26he was lying about large elements of the story this is true at this point of the interview
00:50:35locklear decides to dramatically up the ante with alden for god's sake son i need to find this
00:50:41woman i need to i gotta do something for these kids tell me help me help me help you that life
00:50:48wraps up i need for you to grab it i need for you to hold on if you don't get it right now
00:50:53okay tomorrow is going to be too late yes sir i'm telling you for god's sake so tell me tell me
00:51:02tell me now is the time yesterday was history yes tomorrow's a mystery today is what we're dealing
00:51:08with today is the day of salvation you better you better get on board right now yes sir he seems to be
00:51:14holding back we we think he knows more than he's telling us did john hurt holly i have no idea
00:51:22you think john heard holly kind of but i'm gonna hope not i do too i would love for holly to call me
00:51:30right now that ain't gonna happen but as detective locklear is turning the screws on kyle alden the
00:51:36interview is suddenly interrupted and somebody came and knocked on the interview door go outside
00:51:43and talk to the boss a minute if somebody's stopping the interview the building better be on fire but
00:51:47somebody did a 911 call has come in from a forestry service in nearby onslow county hey what yes you
00:51:55heard me right that could lead to happiness or heartache what he specifically said is are y'all looking for a
00:52:03blonde girl it had been four days since lieutenant holly james had vanished and at this point john y
00:52:23monk has emerged as the prime suspect in the disappearance of his wife a fact not lost on
00:52:29his commanding officer colonel kirk cordova the prime suspect was a marine and it was one of my
00:52:34marines and given the reputation that he had did you think at that time that maybe he is somebody that
00:52:40could be guilty of this um yes given his nature and in the fact that he is somewhat of a hothead and
00:52:48wanted to be in control all the time as soon as uh i heard uh why mike was our prime suspect i assigned
00:52:54somebody to him and make sure he didn't leave didn't run so we knew where he was at at all times
00:53:01while investigators methodically build their case against why monk jesse james decides to take a more
00:53:08direct approach confronting him in person what did he say exactly to you i drove out to uh camp lejeune
00:53:16and he was with like three friends i saw some arrogance saw that he was drinking i just leaned
00:53:26into him very very close and i said john if you somehow committed a perfect murder and left no evidence
00:53:35behind and no one but you knows it there's a sliver of chance that you could get away with it
00:53:42but i said if one person knows you're gonna die for the crime what'd you read in his face fear fear
00:53:50that all the arrogance was gone if i'd have had a gun that day i would have killed him
00:53:57i want you to tell me what happened i gotta find holly for god's sakes where's holly at okay police
00:54:11continue to try and chip away at wine monks fellow marine kyle alden but if he knows anything about
00:54:17holly's disappearance he's not giving up the goods investigators knew he wasn't telling the truth
00:54:23and that he was hiding something he was stonewalling the investigation oh yeah i was surprised that he
00:54:30could hold out as as long as he held out so he's in the middle of an interview and suddenly some
00:54:37information came in that something was found at this field about 15 miles away from camp lejeune
00:54:46ncis received a phone call what we discovered was that the north carolina forestry service
00:54:52had responded to a fire in a wooded area in sneeds ferry north carolina so when those guys got to
00:54:59the scene and they go over there it was pretty clear that there's a body in a shallow grave that
00:55:06looks like someone has tried to burn they put the call in to the sheriff's office we're down here on this
00:55:14fire when they called you they knew it was a body they said we believe we found um a burial site and uh
00:55:33this this might be the missing female from fadeville what he specifically said is are you all looking for
00:55:39a blonde girl and obviously that hit really close to home
00:55:45it was a sad day and then we knew what had ultimately happened to holly
00:55:51the authorities shifted their focus here to sneeze ferry north carolina this is about 130 miles away
00:55:59where holly was living in her apartment only about 15 miles away from camp lejeune
00:56:06if you were looking to hide a body it would be a good place to do it it's a very remote spot
00:56:13we drove out there to the crime scene to the burial site you saw a body there
00:56:19a burnt body i saw human remains rolled up in what appeared to be a air mattress there was a hatchet in
00:56:28the burn pit with the with the remains i saw a number of knives that looked like they came out of a
00:56:34butcher block were those the ones that were also identified that we saw in the pictures inside her
00:56:41apartment uh that day when when it was found out that she was missing right so those knives that were
00:56:48found with the body uh matched the style make and type that were missing from holly's apartment
00:56:58best way i could explain it to you is it was an oval shaped six inch hole in the ground long enough you
00:57:04know to place her body so she was not buried she was just laid there for the fire and then how did they
00:57:09ignite it out of gasoline just poured it all around the area jesse james is at his son's house at camp
00:57:20lejeune when a detective from fayetteville police calls him with the news and i of course i said let's
00:57:27go i'm going out there you know to see the remains and he said well he said i don't think you should do
00:57:35that i don't think you should come out there with us and i said well you know i don't care we're
00:57:39really what you think at this point i'm going out where my child's remains were found
00:57:46and he says well let me just try to make it a little clearer there isn't much to see
00:57:52he said the body had been burning for days i know that when it came to finding her there was a lot of
00:58:00love poured into it and that is something that i really appreciate that people who
00:58:06didn't necessarily know her still felt the need to find her and loved her as deeply as they did
00:58:18an autopsy would confirm that the dismembered remains found in the pit were hollies the cause
00:58:25of death was a single gunshot wound to the head during the initial crime scene process
00:58:31one of the things that kind of stood out to me was a small hole in the closet door of the master bedroom
00:58:42i didn't know why i couldn't explain it sure enough as soon as we cut that door into a piece
00:58:47of bullet fragment fell out so my suspicions initially were correct that it looks like she
00:58:54was laying down on the floor in the bedroom the round was fired into her head it exited her head
00:58:59it hit the concrete floor ricocheted up and rested in the closet door
00:59:07one of the critical pieces that you need is the physical body of the person that was killed and we
00:59:14had that now and so the first thing we wanted to do is go talk to kyle alden again and ask him what
00:59:23really happened that day but would this tough marine finally crack it's come to jesus time all right but
00:59:31you can't get forgiveness unless you ask for forgiveness you better get it out right now
00:59:48investigators have finally discovered the remains of holly lynn james at a site deep in a pine forest
00:59:54but kyle alden denies knowing anything about what became of her have you guys found her body yet
01:00:03i'm gonna be honest with you i mean we will find her all right i promise you that
01:00:11as the questioning continues detective locklear decides to see if some psychological persuasion
01:00:18can get alden to open up and then i guess that's the whole crew
01:00:21photos tend to help get people in their feelings and that's the reason i introduced some photos in
01:00:27the interview so now you're showing him the pictures of these two adorable kids
01:00:32he tried to not look at the photos every time i i would catch him kind of leading off not looking
01:00:38at the photos i said no no no no look at her and her kids and that pressure really worked with him
01:00:44finally alden starts revealing details about the day of holly's disappearance
01:00:51he tells detectives that john wymonk called to ask if he could borrow a truck i told him i can make a
01:00:58couple phone calls and see if i get a truck i said okay i'll meet you in clinton
01:01:05what is this kyle alden and john wymonk stopped at a shield gas station in clinton north carolina which is
01:01:12about halfway between here and camp lejeune and then we go into the gas station he's like you want
01:01:19something to drink it's like okay and then we go back outside we talk a little bit he's like what's
01:01:26the worst thing you've ever done he said the worst thing i've ever done is killed somebody what do you
01:01:31think he means by this i do not know i did not want to know what else does he say he's like
01:01:37you can't say anything about this but i need your help doing something okay and did you ask him what
01:01:48he means no are you worried at this point i'm kind of worried i'm kind of hesitant what could he have
01:01:54done why does he not want me to tell anybody the dam's beginning to break right the information's
01:02:03beginning to come forward alden says they leave the shell station and about an hour later the pair
01:02:11reaches their destination holly's apartment in fayetteville here alden changes his story now
01:02:18saying that the two did in fact go into the apartment open on the truck and then walk down the sidewalk
01:02:26back over to his apartment then i come into the master bedroom and the carpet's torn out
01:02:34i just don't think that he was prepared when he arrived at her apartment for what he saw
01:02:39so you guys carry that stuff out to the other truck yes what do you do next we go back in for the
01:02:45blue bag thing and then we just pick it up okay how much did that weigh probably about 150 pounds
01:02:54what do you think was in the bag i thought crossed my mind it's like the worst thing he's ever done
01:02:59is killed somebody we're in his house there was a blood spot on the wall there's a blood spot on the
01:03:03bed there's blood spot on the floor what the hell happened am i carrying out a body he got really nervous
01:03:11talking about what he saw when he first arrived at the apartment his carotic artery you can watch that
01:03:18in a person and when they really get nervous it's almost like there's a little small
01:03:21green of tree frog rat in her throat it's just throbbing we drive around for a little bit and
01:03:30then he says hey we need to go to walmart's
01:03:34then a brazen act is caught on video when they got to walmart and parked they actually went to the
01:03:41bed of the truck picked her body up took it put it in the in the cab of the truck
01:03:47closed the door locked it went inside and shopped
01:03:52we grabbed two jars of shell oil they pay for the items at the register and head back to the truck
01:04:00they then came back out and removed her body from the interior of the truck and put it back in the bed
01:04:07we retrieved we retrieved that video that was really key piece of evidence for us that they had the
01:04:13callousness to do that alden says the pair then head back towards camp lejeune stopping along the way
01:04:22to pick up y monk's car and then from there they each drive to a secluded spot
01:04:28so what happens then i continue to put the bags and tote in the trunk the big bag in the back seat
01:04:36of the car and then i take off alden says he then continues home solo and that was the end of his
01:04:43involvement so any details that were necessary not that i think of right now but detective locklear
01:04:51has a hunch that alden has more to tell
01:04:57could bringing him back for one more day of questioning finally break the case fully open
01:05:04the next day when i walked back in that interview room i had my chest poked out and my tail feathers were
01:05:10high because i was on with information that i didn't have when i first went in there and i let
01:05:16him know it guess where i just come from they soot and dirt on my shoes why do you think there's soot
01:05:22and dirt on my shoes i have no idea i i i went i went where holly's at you have been lying to me since we
01:05:30met one another right but i don't understand why sensing that alden is still holding back detective
01:05:38jeff locklear who happens to be a preacher's son invokes a higher authority it's coming to jesus time
01:05:46all right but you can't get forgiveness unless you ask for forgiveness you better get it out right now
01:05:52now you tell me tell me the rest of it tell me the rest of it will that appeal get alden to see the light
01:05:59will he finally tell the truth about what really happened to holly i tell him i this stuff is
01:06:08scaring me i don't know what to do
01:06:13in the ncis building at camp lejeune it's been three long days of questioning for marine kyle alden
01:06:29and it's at this point he finally tells investigators what he claims to know
01:06:34about john y monk's involvement in the death of his wife holly he called me it was around 6 30 he said
01:06:40that he's been there all morning and all afternoon say i killed her i didn't ask him how he killed her
01:06:48i just said why you have to be careful in situations like this he's telling me a story and if i encourage
01:06:56him and it's not correct and go down the wrong road here told me that she didn't die right away so he had
01:07:04it hit her again i told him i don't want to hear that but he still kept telling you yes sir what did he
01:07:13say he's like the look in her eye he he's never seen anything like it the look in her eye
01:07:25kyle alden then says he and john wymonk are not yet done at the apartment he told me he had to
01:07:32to burn the apartment and he had to let it burn a really long time because he wanted to try to get
01:07:39rid of all the evidence they had devised the plan or made an agreement that they would drive her
01:07:43remains back to the area of camp lejeune and find somewhere at that point to bury the remains
01:07:52investigators say they choose a place familiar to alden alden was living not far from here how far
01:07:58away was he as the crow flies about a half a mile the reason they picked this area was he was familiar
01:08:04with it because he had been back here doing some target shooting that's how he even knew that this
01:08:08place existed i had enough probable cause at that time to charge him with the arson and the conspiracy
01:08:14to commit the arson that allowed me to arrest him alden and arrest wymonk and get my hands on him
01:08:21and get him back to fade view with both men in custody the focus now switches back to john wymonk
01:08:30and what possible motive could he have to kill his wife investigators believe the answer to that
01:08:37question lies in what they were told about john's alleged violent treatment of holly the first time
01:08:45we really talked about it is when her and john wymonk got in the fight and she showed up at my house
01:08:50her hair was a mess she had scratches and claw marks all over her back we came out a couple of weeks on
01:08:58vacation to visit holly a couple weeks before she was murdered and i met him again once there i just
01:09:04really didn't have a sense that there was anything until she began talking about a divorce
01:09:13authorities come to learn that holly filed for a protective order against john wymonk in may
01:09:19less than two months before she was killed in which she alleged a chilling encounter with her husband
01:09:25we discovered that there had been an incident in the prior months leading up to this where he had
01:09:32threatened suicide and also held a gun to her head to her head correct threatening to kill her yes
01:09:39the night that holly left john at the apartment she was kind of telling me everything that happened
01:09:45that john had threatened her he carved her name into a bullet and told her this one's for you
01:09:53the fact that he was in the military and went as extreme as he did makes it so much worse because
01:10:00his main priority should have been protecting her that was his main job was to protect a mother and a
01:10:09white and he couldn't and he wouldn't do that after holly did not show up for a court hearing on the
01:10:18protective order the case was dismissed you need anything to drink a glass of water you want some
01:10:24water fair enough despite the growing amount of evidence against john wymonk implicating him in holly's
01:10:31murder why monk still will not talk armed with the information that kyle had given investigators they
01:10:39gave john wymonk an opportunity to come clean and tell what happened he said he wasn't going to talk
01:10:44with them without an attorney present okay stand up follow me out here he was then charged with first
01:10:51degree murder second degree arson as well as conspiracy to commit second degree arson corporal john
01:10:57wymonk is accused of killing his wife second lieutenant holly wymonk a nurse stationed at fort bragg
01:11:02my client is presumed to be innocent we don't want this case tried in the media we want it to be tried
01:11:08in the court of law taking a case to trial there's always risk involved in this case we had very good
01:11:16information from kyle and the thought was is that kyle would testify at trial as to what happened and then we
01:11:23would put all the circumstantial evidence together to point to the fact of of what john wymonk had done
01:11:29that night while john wymonk pleads not guilty to all charges in connection with the arson and his wife's
01:11:38death kyle olden is now cooperating with authorities he agrees to take detective locklear through the night
01:11:49of holly's murder at the scene of the crime it was very telling to bring him back to the spot he had
01:11:55never been here before right before that night this is only the second time he had ever been here
01:12:00and he could still remember where he parked i parked right there besides the christmas it was worth
01:12:06taking him back out there and having him tell it from his own the viewpoint of the guy that was there
01:12:11to not this happened from there you guys went to we went back out towards the jacksonville skint's
01:12:18ferry area did he give an indication of why it is that he did what he did what alden did the only
01:12:25explanation that i'm aware of is that wymonk being another marine asked him for help and he agreed
01:12:31you're a marine would you do that absolutely not after he confessed kyle alden was charged and he ultimately
01:12:39pleaded guilty kyle alden was sentenced to approximately five years in prison and at a
01:12:48hearing for john wymonk holly's brother beau sees the man he once called a friend now accused of killing
01:12:56his sister though we stood up when wymonk came in and he didn't even look he didn't turn around
01:13:01ultimately in 2010 john wymonk pled guilty to first-degree murder john wymonk is sentenced to
01:13:09life in prison for arson conspiracy to commit arson and holly's murder the district attorney called me
01:13:17and he said i have wymonk here his parents have convinced him to take a plea of life without parole
01:13:25i said you just take the plea and send him to prison you know so that's what they did did you hope there
01:13:30was a death penalty i personally wanted it yeah it's a different opinion than my dad's
01:13:35man with john wymonk now behind bars jesse james still has questions did you expect he would write
01:13:46back to you will this father finally get answers from his daughter's killer
01:13:59she was honored in many ways it was a lavish funeral and i did it on purpose because
01:14:21holly was a big personality the police in the community from several communities came and
01:14:29the patriot guard it looked like a state funeral dignitary dignitary yeah and that's what i wanted
01:14:36for holly what was it like then to be at a funeral like that it's heartbreaking and i just uncontrollably
01:14:48cried it was awful as it's just in so many ways you put them together the man that you
01:14:57that you introduced to your sister ultimately killed her right it's part of what haunts me for a long
01:15:02part of my life absolutely but that's looking back nobody can ever predict something that they already
01:15:08learned but once you go through something it's really hard to take it away pretending it didn't
01:15:12happen is hard but coming to terms with it is even harder sometimes i think every time i take a step
01:15:20here maybe i'm taking a step in a place she has stepped and that has a sense gives me a sense of
01:15:25presence here in the hallway of womack army medical center where holly once worked her memory stands
01:15:34eternal a silent testament to a life that will not be forgotten does that say down there in memory of
01:15:41second lieutenant holly james for her joy her service and her support of mothers and babies well she was
01:15:49loved yes she was the pain of losing a daughter never fades and neither do the unanswered questions
01:15:57so after all these years you still want to know more yeah i'd like to know more
01:16:02recently jesse made the difficult decision to reach out to john wymonk the man who murdered his
01:16:12daughter through an online prisoner website john both my son jesse and i carry no anger toward you
01:16:21but only grief for the loss of holly the level of grief we carry leaves no room for you
01:16:29to my surprise i did receive a response to my letter the response goes like this thank you for
01:16:40reaching out to me you are entitled to answers to which i will give them to you as best i can i hope
01:16:47this will provide some closure for all parties involved did you expect he would write back to you
01:16:54i thought he would it took a long time and the the return letter went into the things like you know
01:17:01yeah we need to talk but rather than taking responsibility why monk outlines a process centered
01:17:07on his own terms and not on the needs of jesse even in that letter that he wrote there's no apology
01:17:13he does not care about what he did he only cares about what's happening to him
01:17:18you are now communicating with the man who murdered your daughter if you were to talk to him in person
01:17:26would that be something that would be somewhat helpful to you i think being in the same room would
01:17:32have a negative impact on me john i can assure you that i have no interest in engaging in restorative
01:17:40justice or any sense of closure with you how could you possibly restore 17 years of life
01:17:47without holly i fought to live a life of joy
01:17:55because i didn't want to be a victim of john why i'm up to so you've never been there never been there
01:18:02would you want to go there at this point i think i i i would like to do that
01:18:06years after his daughter was discovered here jesse james visits the sacred hallowed ground
01:18:18for the first time not just a face where holly's body was abandoned but to honor her memory
01:18:24well not only for myself but you know i'd like to represent my family and her friends that did not
01:18:34get to uh see her again
01:18:38what do you think about now i think that i miss my protector she was always the big sister
01:18:51today those who loved holly keep her memory alive remembering her as the devoted mother and dedicated
01:18:59soldier she always strived to be what would you like the world to to remember about holly i think
01:19:07she should be remembered for for trying to give so much my sister loved protecting the people she
01:19:13cared about it got the same smile too right there i want people to remember her as a really good mother
01:19:21with the time she had i am very proud of who she was a patriot is someone who goes above and beyond
01:19:29and that's what she did like no matter what isn't she sweet she put everything above herself
01:19:37and i don't think there's anything more patriotic than that
01:19:53the life of a true patriot cut short in the years since his daughter's murder jesse james has become an
01:20:00advocate in the fight against domestic violence hoping david to make a difference after completing his
01:20:05sentence kyle alden was released from prison neither he nor john wymonk are members of the marine corps
01:20:10any longer that is our program for tonight thank you for watching i'm david muir and i'm deborah
01:20:15roberts from all of us at 2020 and abc news good night
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