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00:00I've seen a lot of homicides in my 23-year career as a death investigator.
00:27And some of those cases have a special element of tragedy.
00:33Not every case makes it into the newspaper.
00:36But this Jane Doe touched many lives.
00:40There's an unidentified individual inside of a garbage bag.
00:44It's kind of hard to bag up a human body.
00:47How many people did this?
00:49This could have happened anywhere.
00:50It's a good place to dump a body.
00:53She's in Brooklyn.
00:54She disappears.
00:55What the heck happened to her?
00:57I just felt out of body that this is happening to this very normal family.
01:03There's external evidence of strangulation, and that takes sufficient force, like a man's
01:10hands.
01:12This was barbaric.
01:13It really wasn't right what happened to that poor girl.
01:16No one should be thrown away like garbage.
01:19I became a death investigator at the medical examiner's office in 1992, and for two decades, I went to countless crime scenes in some of the darkest corners of New York City.
01:47One of them was in 2002 in Hell's Kitchen.
01:51This one stuck with me.
01:53We got the call at the M.E.'s office to report to a tunnel just beneath the sanitation department's garage.
02:00It's been a long time, right?
02:01Yeah.
02:02A lot of memories here.
02:03This really was a terrible case.
02:04Do you remember when you called me a couple months ago, we were talking about this case, and you said,
02:06Hey, Barbara, you remember that case we did, the young woman in a garbage bag dumped, and I said, which one?
02:11And that, to me, is the tragedy of this.
02:15There were that many young women murdered, thrown in garbage bags, and dumped.
02:19Yes.
02:20I, you know.
02:21It's thick.
02:22It's a sick world.
02:23And this was your first case, right?
02:24As an investigator, this was my first homicide, yeah.
02:26Wow.
02:27Yeah.
02:28Yeah.
02:29June 25, 2002, I was newly assigned to the Midtown North Detective School.
02:36I was in the hospital.
02:37I was in the hospital.
02:38It was a great tragedy of this.
02:39Yeah.
02:40There were that many young women murdered, thrown in garbage bags, and dumped.
02:42Yes.
02:43I, you know.
02:44It's a thick.
02:45It's a sick world.
02:46And this was your first case, right?
02:47As an investigator, this was my first homicide, yeah.
02:50Wow.
02:51Yeah.
02:53June 25, 2002, I was newly assigned to the Midtown North Detective School.
02:58First case you never forget, but a case like this, nobody forgets.
03:03It was a sunny day.
03:07The temperature was in the 70s.
03:09And at roughly 5 p.m., we hear a call over the radio requesting the squad to respond to West 56th Street between 11th and 12th.
03:19In Hell's Kitchen, it was a suspicious DOA.
03:23The first two officers on scene were dealing with a vehicle accident.
03:28A witness ran up to them frantically, saying in Spanish, you've got to come.
03:34I found a body.
03:35There's a dead body in a bag.
03:37Patrol officers followed a witness to an underpass where they see a deceased individual inside of a garbage bag.
03:49The officers called dispatch and requested a homicide squad.
03:56When we arrive at the scene, I could see the garbage bag was partially ripped open, and that was by the witness.
04:06Looking for clothing, maybe there was some food in it.
04:09But the crime scene unit will not process the scene until after the medical examiner's office does their preliminary investigation.
04:20Barbara was a very serious woman, very smart.
04:24And for somebody like myself, a new investigator, she would help me out a lot.
04:33The medical legal death investigator, or MOI, we go to the scene of death.
04:38We work with the police.
04:39We examine the body, examine the scene, and relate the two.
04:44Let's go over and see where the bag was dropped.
04:47Yeah.
04:48All right?
04:49So when I start out at a scene like this, just start observing.
04:52Take it all in.
04:53Like the smells, the sounds, like the exhaust, the garbage on a hot night.
04:58So she's right about here, right?
05:01Yeah.
05:02She's in the bag, right past the fire hydrant.
05:04Let me show you a picture.
05:07Right behind the, uh, the shopping cart is the bag with the victim.
05:12Now that picture, phew.
05:16The first thing I'm thinking about is time of death.
05:20It's just microclimates, right?
05:22We got her in the bag, so this warmth's contained.
05:25And we got the wind coming off the Hudson, which cools everything down.
05:29So we have a constant change in temperature.
05:33And this is so damn hard in an outdoor scene.
05:37That's why we need you.
05:39Yeah.
05:40Now, do I want to rip that bag open?
05:44Hell no, because there's trace evidence in there.
05:47There's valuable evidence.
05:48Who knows?
05:49There might even be a shell casing or a bullet inside, which, if I rip things open, I'm going
05:54to lose that evidence.
05:55However, just looking inside the already torn open portion of the bag, we see the young
06:02woman.
06:03She's black.
06:04And we see a bit of her face.
06:07She's somewhat moderately decomposed.
06:11And she appears to be crouched down into the bag, where her legs are bent.
06:18She's dressed nicely in a little denim jacket.
06:23And we see from the hand, that's sticking out of her bag.
06:26She's clean.
06:27My job is to provide context for the death.
06:31If I were in her home, I would have much better idea of how she lived and therefore how she died.
06:37This is a homeless encampment.
06:39This is not a context for this person.
06:44Do I see drag marks of the bag in the dirt?
06:47Do I see blood on the ground indicating someone was killed there?
06:52Do I see shell casings?
06:54Any of those things?
06:55No.
06:56The detectives and I discussed what we knew so far.
07:01And it was clear to all of us that she had been killed elsewhere and dumped in this tunnel.
07:06A black garbage bag was transported there somehow, some way.
07:11Could it be a car?
07:12Yes.
07:13Could it be a shopping cart?
07:15Possibly.
07:16As for how many people may have been involved, it could be two, it could be three.
07:21At that very moment, we didn't know.
07:24Our morgue team is going to come and transport her in the morgue wagon back to the autopsy room.
07:31Soon after, the Manhattan South Homicide Squad responded.
07:34Detective Terizzi meets us there.
07:36So when I arrived, I conferred with Detective McCloud and we'd walk around, talk to people on the street.
07:43We found more homeless people to interview, passerbys in the car, whoever was in that area.
07:49Nobody saw anything.
07:51Even the guy that found the bag, he didn't know when it was put there.
07:56In the area where the body was found, there was a club there, club exit.
08:00She's dressed up, fingernails manicured very nicely.
08:05Was she a patron of the nightclub?
08:07We spoke to the bar bouncers and the owners, but there was no video evidence.
08:12And there was no additional information at that time that could help us.
08:21The next morning, we attended the autopsy.
08:28As a death investigator, I routinely attended autopsies, especially if it was my case.
08:34This was my first homicide autopsy.
08:39It's not a normal thing to watch.
08:42They take the body out of the bag and then give the bag the crime scene to preserve any possible evidence.
08:50The victim is laid out on a table.
08:56She's approximately 20 to 22 years old.
08:59She had no identification.
09:01Tattoos, nothing.
09:03The victim is fingerprinted.
09:05The fingerprint card gets sent over to the latent print unit.
09:09Time of death's determination is critical to a homicide investigation.
09:15Best estimate, given the level of decomposition, given her being outside, was two to three days.
09:22So, we could say that she died approximately June 22nd to June 23rd.
09:30Now, when we look at the body, there's no defensive wounds on her.
09:35No evidence of a struggle or flesh beneath her nails.
09:40But on her neck, there's bruising.
09:43And that bruising takes sufficient force, like a man's hands.
09:50During the dissection of the neck, we see that there's hemorrhage in that large muscle.
09:56And then the hyoi bone, a very small, wishbone-shaped bone in the throat, was indeed fractured.
10:03This evidence is consistent with manual strangulation.
10:08So, it's probably likely that this was someone she knew and didn't fight back initially.
10:18Perhaps she was surprised.
10:20Notably, the abdomen is very distended.
10:24Now, with decomposition, the bacterial action causes gases and it bloats the stomach, bloats the eyes, any soft tissue areas.
10:35So, is this decompositional gases?
10:39On the opening of the womb, they find that she is seven months pregnant with a baby boy.
10:51That's an old moment.
10:54You're talking about a little kid, a baby that hasn't even been born yet.
10:58What the hell would this little kid do?
11:00You know?
11:02Certainly, we'll take DNA samples from the fetus and the mother, and we'll develop a profile of them.
11:09The big question, who is the father?
11:13Being here right now is as if it was 23 years ago.
11:19I really, I can feel it.
11:21I'm actually really getting upset about this.
11:23I mean, she was right here.
11:24I literally lived this close, even in my sleep.
11:28I had to solve this.
11:32It hurts that that's the way her light was extinguished.
11:36We found out who presumably is the father.
11:41That doesn't mean he did it.
11:43It could be somebody jealous.
11:45We found out that she had traveled to Brooklyn.
11:47Her body's found in Manhattan.
11:49So, how did that happen?
12:01She's a young girl, she's pregnant, and she's dead.
12:04What kind of a person could do something like somebody's hands made those marks on her?
12:11We had no identification on her.
12:13We don't know who she is.
12:14For me, time to get to work.
12:17I wanted answers right then and there.
12:24So, when we get DNA from a fetus, of course, half of it matches to the mother.
12:29The other half is the father.
12:31So, we have a profile for the father, but it doesn't match to anything in the databases,
12:36meaning he was likely never arrested.
12:39We conducted missing person checks throughout the area.
12:44And then we got an identification on the victim based on her fingerprints.
12:49Gave us the name of Sandra Bonaventure.
12:52She was approximately 20 years old, and she comes from Mount Vernon area.
12:57When you have to notify somebody that their family member has passed away,
13:06it's really not easy to do.
13:09The day I found out about Sandra, I was at work.
13:15My aunt had called me and...
13:18All I heard was my aunt screaming.
13:34When I heard my aunt scream, I dropped on the floor.
13:37I remember this picture. This is when she was six months pregnant.
13:47Between six and seven months.
13:48Yeah.
13:49Yeah.
13:54I remember that day when I dropped her home.
13:58And I would never forget her saying bye to me.
14:03It's like I knew that was my last time seeing her.
14:09When the police told us it was surreal, I didn't believe it.
14:15That this is not happening to this very normal family, that Sandra is gone.
14:21Our parents were two immigrants from Haiti.
14:25My mom would work two jobs to take care of her family.
14:29She used to always say that she would want us to go to college.
14:33Sandra always did well in school, A's and B's, an honor roll.
14:38She was a jokester, loved to dance, she loved music.
14:42She was my best friend.
14:43I looked up to Sandra.
14:46She had a strong personality. She was gorgeous.
14:50Sandra was the first in our family to go to college.
14:56My mother was, you know, very proud.
14:59She was going to New Paul's University.
15:02Her plan was to become a special educational teacher.
15:05She was so happy about it. She's like, I'm going to make a difference in this world.
15:09When we found out Sandra was pregnant, I don't think I've ever seen her happier.
15:15She glowed.
15:17Our family, we said that we would be there for her.
15:19We would help her with the child.
15:22She wanted to call her baby boy Isaiah.
15:25This is a beautiful, smart, promising young woman.
15:30Someone who was working hard to be somebody.
15:34She didn't get that chance.
15:36And neither did her baby.
15:37After we break the news that Sandra was murdered, we had to ask some pertinent questions.
15:47And we found out who presumably is the father.
15:52Sandra was pregnant for somebody that was a little older than her.
15:56His name was Emmanuel.
15:58I didn't know Emmanuel personally, but she said that he was smart.
16:02He was going to school for his masters.
16:04He went to Stony Brook and he was focused on his education.
16:09We got to start doing computer checks.
16:12Emmanuel Pierre, he was from Brooklyn.
16:15He was 26.
16:17Find out that he lived with his parents.
16:19Doesn't appear that he has any arrest record.
16:22Seemed like a decent kid, but his girlfriend's now dead and her baby.
16:26That doesn't mean he did it.
16:29It could be somebody jealous.
16:30It could be another boyfriend.
16:32But that's why you do the investigation.
16:35You got to turn over every rock.
16:37A big question was, where was she?
16:40Based on cell phone records, we found out that she had traveled from Mount Vernon to Manhattan and then to Brooklyn.
16:46Her body's found in Manhattan, so how did that happen?
16:54After we learned the address of Emmanuel Pierre, detectives went to his residence in Brooklyn.
16:59We don't always tell people how it is right away.
17:03If we tell him she was murdered, we might not get no help.
17:07They told him Sandra was missing, and they asked him to come back to the precinct in Manhattan to see if he could help them find her.
17:17He agreed.
17:19So Emmanuel was brought into the interview room.
17:22He was physically fit, groomed very nicely, and he spoke very timidly.
17:26We got into the basics of their relationship, and the fact that she was pregnant.
17:32You know, is this your kid?
17:34Might be, but he wasn't 100% positive.
17:38He was saying that he's not the only one she's sleeping with, and he doesn't even know if he's the father of the baby.
17:44We knew that Sandra was in touch with him, and we knew that she traveled to Brooklyn after midnight.
17:51We questioned him about that, he goes, well, yeah, she was supposed to come see me.
17:54What happened?
17:56I was going to pick her up at the train station, but I fell asleep.
17:59When I woke up, I had these instant messages.
18:02I'm here, I'm at the train station, where are you?
18:05I'm going home, I'm not messing with you no more.
18:09Emmanuel said, I went to the train station, I went to see if she was there.
18:13She wasn't there.
18:14He thought she was pissed, so he went back home.
18:18Did you try to call her?
18:19No.
18:20Did you try to call her the next day?
18:22No.
18:23He went to a concert.
18:24After the concert, a few hours later, his friend picks him up, and they traveled to Cleveland, Ohio.
18:32And then June 26th, he travels back to New York on a Greyhound bus back to Brooklyn.
18:40We verified that Emmanuel went to the concert.
18:42We verified that he went to Cleveland, Ohio, and came back on the 26th.
18:46We had no probable cause to make an arrest.
18:50So he was free to leave.
18:52Honestly, we do not know if he's involved.
18:55We've got to work harder now.
18:57As the investigation continues, I hear from Brian that they're tracking down leads on exes, old friends who maybe have a grudge against her, anyone who might have a reason to want Sandra dead.
19:10The detectives came upon several phone calls to a 914 number, which is the Pleasantville Cottages school in Westchester County.
19:19We learned that Sandra used to reside at a boarding school called Pleasantville Cottages.
19:26Sandra was reported to be in a feud with another girl.
19:30There was a female up there who accused Sandra of trying to steal her boyfriend.
19:34Not Emmanuel Pierre, a different guy.
19:37She could have been jealous of her.
19:39She could have had something to do with the murder.
19:47Ultimately, my goal and the goal of the detectives is to get to the truth.
19:53As the investigation into Sandra Bonaventure's murder continues, police found a classmate at her old school who was reported to be in a feud with Sandra.
20:04They drive 30 miles north to talk with her.
20:08We went up to Pleasantville Cottage, and at the end of the day, after speaking to people, that was over with.
20:14That girl apparently had problems with everybody.
20:17And we confirmed her alibi.
20:19There really wasn't anybody currently that she was having a problem with.
20:26In many cases, the findings at autopsy are what drives the investigation.
20:31The fact that she had no defense wounds, she was caught by surprise.
20:36This is not someone she would expect to attack her.
20:39The young woman with whom Sandra had a feud was not a viable suspect.
20:45Sandra didn't trust her.
20:47Of course, she wouldn't let her anywhere near her.
20:50Sandra also had friends up there.
20:53They all said she was doing well. She was in a happy time in her life.
20:55She couldn't wait for the baby to be born.
20:58There was nothing at all that led us to believe that somebody from the cottages could possibly be involved with this.
21:05We really wanted to solve this case because it really wasn't right what happened to that poor girl.
21:09Long spans of time passed of no information.
21:16And my mind was reeling.
21:19Like every day just kind of felt like an awful dream, waking up, questioning, wondering who would possibly do this to Sandra.
21:27And especially anyone that would hurt her while being that visibly pregnant.
21:32I just didn't have exposure to people that were that evil.
21:42I remember being told by one of my supervisors.
21:45He's like, you win something, you lose something.
21:50I wasn't losing this.
21:52This was barbaric, this case.
21:54I'm busting my ass trying to identify phone numbers to show us who she was in contact with.
21:59Associates of those phone numbers, doing work-ups on those individuals.
22:04It's like a puzzle, criss-crossing.
22:07We didn't have a computer program to do it for us.
22:10Nine months into this case, Detective McCloud learns that a few days before Sandra Bonaventure died, she called a credit card company.
22:20I speak to a representative there, found out that Sandra activated her credit card on June 19th, the day before she was last heard from.
22:31The credit card company sends over documentation, which includes three transactions that were made on three different dates.
22:38June 24th, the 25th and 26th at gas stations all in Brooklyn.
22:42We know Sandra was dead, so we know she's not using the card, so somebody has her card.
22:48Could it be the killer?
22:50It could be.
22:51Could be somebody else found it.
22:52We don't jump to conclusions, we try and figure it out.
22:55McCloud and me, we go to all three gas stations, there was no video, and we weren't able to determine who used the card.
23:02Who used the card?
23:03The credit card company, they send over call detail and documents as well, and I see there's a 718 number.
23:10So I called the credit card company, I'm like, what is this?
23:13She goes, somebody called from that phone number, probably looking for a balance, and then they asked for the last four of the social, and the person didn't know it and they hung up.
23:22That phone number is cross-referenced and it comes back to an assisted living facility in Brooklyn.
23:30We go out there, we speak with the manager, we get a whole list of the employees.
23:39At the location, the residents, they go on trips, and they have two or three vans and they have drivers of these vans.
23:49We look through the van logs, every time they sign out a van, they gotta sign their name and where they're going.
23:56So we cross-referenced this to see maybe who had driven the van on the date Sandra Bonavitch's card was used.
24:05After looking at all the paperwork, we narrowed it down that it possibly could be this one employee, and his name was Dwayne Murray.
24:15We go out to Brooklyn and knock on Dwayne's door.
24:22Come on, you gotta come with us.
24:24Okay.
24:25Doesn't ask us why.
24:27Gets in the car.
24:28Never says, where are we going?
24:30Why am I in this car?
24:31We drive back to Manhattan, we're sitting in like unbelievable traffic.
24:35Looked like an hour and a half.
24:37Dwayne's sleeping in the back.
24:39How do you just fall asleep in, you know, in a police car?
24:42If anybody falls asleep in the backseat of the car and doesn't ask any questions, they give me something.
24:48I hear from McLeod that they bring in a guy named Dwayne Murray.
25:04Dwayne Murray has and is using the credit card of a dead woman, someone who was murdered.
25:09That's certainly suspicious and he's a viable suspect at this point.
25:14Detective McLeod and myself start to interview Dwayne Murray about the credit cards.
25:19Did you charge gas at these locations?
25:23Is this, do you know this receipt? Do you know this receipt?
25:26He's denying it.
25:28No, I don't know what you're talking about.
25:30He's kind of like nonchalant, like he's a little cocky.
25:33Like what am I doing here? You're wasting my time kind of thing.
25:36Chief Terizzi says, you can be involved with this, or you can be involved with this.
25:42He throws down the picture of Sandra.
25:44She's deceased.
25:46He looks at the picture.
25:48He says, I don't know nothing about that.
25:51He posts the receipts.
25:53That, I might know something about.
25:55And ultimately, Dwayne decides that he's going to cooperate.
25:59He admitted that he did in fact use the credit card and specifically pointed out what you get,
26:05which gas stations he used.
26:07Was it your card? No.
26:09Where'd you get the card from?
26:10A friend.
26:11What's your friend's name?
26:13Joshua Cayenne.
26:15Dwayne said he needed some money for gas, and Joshua was with him.
26:21He goes, here.
26:22Gives him a credit card.
26:23He says, be careful.
26:24There's a body on it.
26:26We find out that Joshua Cayenne works with Dwayne.
26:31It turns out Joshua was a student at Stony Brook and fraternity brothers and best friends with Sandra's boyfriend, Emmanuel.
26:39We got the connection, right?
26:44Cayenne goes to the same school as Emmanuel Pierre, her boyfriend.
26:49How did he meet her?
26:51What is his relationship to her?
26:53Did they date?
26:54And most importantly, did he have something to do with her murder?
26:58We need to hear from Josh.
27:01After we interviewed Dwayne, detectives go out to Stony Brook and they bring in Joshua Cayenne.
27:09And he's interviewed at Midtown North Detective Squad.
27:13Big guy.
27:14He was like a football player.
27:16Remind me of Ricky Williams.
27:17Had long, long hair.
27:19He really wasn't saying nothing.
27:21He's very soft-spoken, kept looking down, wasn't saying anything.
27:26For five hours, we're interviewing him.
27:29He's not saying nothing.
27:31He won't even look at us.
27:32We're not getting anywhere.
27:34When someone's brought into the precinct for questioning, they have choices.
27:38They can ask for a lawyer or walk out.
27:41But not speaking, it really doesn't make any sense to me at all.
27:46Is this a sign of guilt or is it a sign of something else?
27:51I felt, and I'm sure Brian did too, he was afraid of Emmanuel and did not want to say anything against him.
28:01We need something from Josh.
28:03I'm just gonna wing it, you know?
28:05And I just start laughing.
28:07Josh looks up like this, looks up at me.
28:09I said, I can't believe it.
28:11I said, you're afraid.
28:13You're afraid of Emmanuel.
28:15And then starts crying.
28:19And I said, let's give this guy some time.
28:22Detective McCloud and myself put a picture down of Sandra and left the room.
28:29We have a two-way mirror where he can't see us or anybody on the outside.
28:33They could see him.
28:34He's looking at the picture.
28:36He's upset. He's visibly upset.
28:39This is it. It's now or never.
28:41And we go in, she starts shaking his head.
28:45Steve's like, what's the matter?
28:48And he goes, I'm not testifying.
28:52And I remember that forever.
28:54He goes, I'm not testifying.
28:56I looked up, I go, nobody said anything about testifying.
28:59We want to find out what happened.
29:00So just what happened.
29:01That's what we want to find out.
29:05Just whatever you got to do, we want to know the truth.
29:09And he gave us a story of the events that happened the night of Sandra's murder.
29:19After five hours interviewing Joshua Cayenne, he tells us what happened.
29:31Joshua says he was home in his house in Brooklyn.
29:35He gets a knock on the window like 3 o'clock in the morning, June 20th.
29:40It's Emmanuel, tells him to come outside.
29:44Emmanuel opens the passenger side, rear door.
29:49And Joshua looks in and he sees Sandra dead on the back seat.
29:55He says he threw up right there.
29:58He says, Emmanuel says, you're in it now.
30:03I need your help.
30:05Emmanuel goes to the trunk, gets out some black bags.
30:10They start at the head.
30:13He holds the bag while Emmanuel kind of lifts Sandra into the bag.
30:18And he kind of curled her legs to try and get her in the bag.
30:22When we looked into the bag, we saw that Sandra's legs were curled up.
30:27And that's a detail that very few people would know.
30:30And we had surmised at the scene that it would take at least two people to move her there.
30:36So in many ways, Joshua's story is really adding up.
30:41He says they get in the car, he gets in the front seat, and he saw a credit card.
30:46So he says he put the credit card like in the middle console, and then he took it.
30:52Emanuel explained that she was pregnant, that he had been pressuring her to have an abortion.
31:03She was refusing to do so, and Miss Bonaventure was even threatening to tell Emmanuel's family that he had gotten her pregnant.
31:12He could not have this.
31:13He thought that was going to screw up his life.
31:16It comes from an upper-class family.
31:18That's not going to look good in the eyes of their community.
31:22Mr. Cayenne said Mr. Pierre saw there was only one way out of this,
31:26and that was to kill Ms. Bonaventure.
31:27They're driving along Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn.
31:30They're looking for a dumpster, but they didn't find any.
31:33Next thing you know, they're going over to Manhattan Bridge.
31:36Sun starts coming up.
31:38Emmanuel starts getting nervous.
31:39And then they find a location on 56th Street between 11th and 12th.
31:46A sanitation building where they dump her body.
31:52On the ride back in the car after disposing of the body,
31:56Joshua tells me that Emmanuel states,
32:00I can't believe I strangled him.
32:03Emmanuel strangulation is up close.
32:06Sometimes you're looking into the victim's eyes.
32:10And even if from behind you're watching them struggle,
32:14it's a really awful death.
32:17And it's very personal.
32:20Mr. Cayenne said that after they disposed of the body together,
32:25Mr. Pierre put a plastic bag over his head and said,
32:29see what these things can do to you?
32:31Mr. Cayenne took this as a threat of what might happen to him
32:34if he were to say anything to the authorities.
32:38I believe Joshua Cayenne.
32:40I believe he was afraid of Emmanuel.
32:42That's why it took him so long to tell us what happened.
32:45And he did say also one thing at the end.
32:48He goes, I'll never be able to atone for this.
32:50I got to live with this the rest of my life.
32:52And he does.
32:56Eventually, Joshua Cayenne agrees to cooperate with police,
32:59but the information he reveals is concerning.
33:04Joshua says,
33:06Emmanuel knocked on his window June 20th,
33:093, 4 in the morning,
33:10and we think she was killed 3 a.m. or around that time.
33:16That does not match up with the ME saying
33:18Sandra was killed between June 22nd and June 23rd.
33:22So that's a problem.
33:25Police had new evidence,
33:27and they went in to discuss it with the medical examiner
33:29who did the autopsy.
33:32Of course, the ME will modify their opinion
33:34if new evidence warrants it.
33:37According to Sandra's cell phone records,
33:39there were no calls after the 20th.
33:42In addition,
33:43we have the statement of Joshua Cayenne,
33:46how he helped to dispose of the body on that date.
33:51Time of death is always an estimation
33:54unless there's eye a witness.
33:55And because of this new information presented by police,
33:58the medical examiner agreed
34:00that Sandra could have died as early as June 20th
34:04when Emmanuel Pierre was still in town.
34:07And this radically changed
34:09how the case was going to go.
34:15We got the arrest warrant.
34:17We could go arrest Emmanuel.
34:21It was about 8.30 at night.
34:23Myself and Detective McLeod,
34:25we go in an unmarked police auto
34:26to Brooklyn to Emmanuel's residence,
34:29and we had a second call
34:31with a sergeant and two other detectives.
34:33So we're going to do surveillance
34:34and maybe he'll come out.
34:38Around 10.30,
34:39I decide, you know what?
34:41I'm calling this guy.
34:42He might not even be home.
34:45Phone rings.
34:46Emmanuel picks up.
34:47Hey, Emmanuel, how you doing?
34:48Detective Terizzi.
34:49And all I hear is,
34:51you don't remember me.
34:53You know, you were helping us out
34:55with Sandra's case, you know.
34:56Yeah, well, you know,
34:58some new information evolved,
35:00and you might be able to help us out.
35:01I said, well, listen,
35:02I'm 15 minutes away from your house.
35:04I'm going to come to your house
35:04and tell you.
35:05We hang up.
35:06Detective Terizzi, he's like,
35:08Brian, this is your first homicide case.
35:10You got to say something to the bad guy.
35:11What are you going to say?
35:14About 10 minutes later,
35:15the sergeant goes,
35:16he just came out of the house.
35:18He's coming out.
35:21Just all in black.
35:23Jump out of the car.
35:24Pull my gun on him.
35:26I don't know if he's armed.
35:28Emmanuel, let me see your hands.
35:29Put your hands up in the air.
35:31Slowly.
35:32Go up.
35:33Put one cuff on him.
35:34There's Terizzi.
35:35Bro, say it.
35:36Say it, bro.
35:37Put the other cuff on him.
35:38I said, Emmanuel Pierre,
35:40you are under arrest
35:41for the murder of Sandra Bonaventure
35:43and your unborn child.
35:47Scumbag.
35:48Emmanuel being arrested
35:54for Sandra's murder
35:55was shocking hurts
35:58that that's the way
36:00her light was extinguished.
36:02Emmanuel didn't have to kill her.
36:06She had people that loved her
36:08and I wanted to be there for her.
36:10Three years after her death,
36:21Emmanuel Pierre was charged
36:23with second-degree murder
36:24in the death of his girlfriend,
36:27Sandra Bonaventure.
36:28While preparing for trial,
36:31the prosecutor realized
36:33that there were several hurdles
36:34that he was going to have to clear
36:35in order to be able to prove
36:37that it was Mr. Pierre
36:38who killed Ms. Bonaventure.
36:40He was a clean-cut, successful kid
36:43from a good family
36:44and Mr. Cayenne
36:46and Mr. Cayenne
36:46was not as squeaky clean
36:47and seemed to fit the bill
36:49as the person
36:50who could have done the killing.
36:52Emmanuel Pierre denied
36:54that he killed Sandra Bonaventure.
36:56Denied that the baby
36:58was even his.
37:00I claim BS.
37:02That child was his.
37:03And you know what I suspect?
37:05He didn't question it either.
37:06But he was trying to keep
37:09from taking responsibility,
37:10which is exactly why he murdered her.
37:13The prosecution wanted to establish
37:15who in fact was the father
37:17of Ms. Bonaventure's child.
37:20And they convinced the judge
37:21to do a DNA test on Mr. Pierre.
37:24We have DNA samples
37:26from the fetus and the mother,
37:28but it doesn't matter
37:29if you don't have someone
37:30to match it to.
37:32And finally,
37:32we were all about to know for certain,
37:35was he the father of this child?
37:43Nearly three years
37:45after Sandra Bonaventure
37:47was found dumped in a tunnel,
37:49Emmanuel Pierre stands trial
37:51for her murder.
37:53Of course he denies killing her
37:54and being the father
37:56of her unborn child.
37:58So the court mandates
37:59a paternity test.
38:02When the DNA comparison results
38:04came back,
38:05it was found that Emmanuel Pierre
38:07was the father
38:08of her unborn child,
38:11his son.
38:14He's the father of the child.
38:16There's his motive right there.
38:17He don't want the baby.
38:20Emmanuel Pierre's trial
38:21began in April 2005,
38:23and his former friend,
38:25Joshua Cayenne,
38:27testified for the prosecution
38:28against him at that trial
38:30in exchange for immunity.
38:34As a 14-year-old girl,
38:36being in the courtroom,
38:37hearing about how
38:38Emmanuel killed my sister,
38:40it just hurt.
38:43I'm not going to lie.
38:44I didn't look at Emmanuel.
38:46I couldn't.
38:50Of course,
38:51the defense was going to be
38:52that the real killer
38:53was Joshua Cayenne.
38:54And that's how he ended up
38:56with the credit card.
38:57And that he was infatuated
38:59with Ms. Bonaventure,
39:00and she rejected him,
39:02and as a result of that,
39:03he killed her in a rage.
39:05My guy, he's innocent.
39:07It was him.
39:08The friend.
39:10Problem is,
39:11it wasn't the friend's life
39:13that was going to be
39:14all screwed up.
39:15It wasn't the friend's baby
39:16that was in her belly.
39:18It wasn't the friend
39:19that she was going to visit
39:21in the early hours
39:22of June 20th
39:23and then wasn't heard
39:25from again.
39:26And the most important
39:27factor of all,
39:28there was a long series
39:30of telephone calls
39:32back and forth
39:32between her
39:33and Emmanuel Pierre.
39:35But after the 20th of June,
39:38Emmanuel Pierre
39:38never called her phone again.
39:41That was all the evidence
39:43I needed.
39:44If he didn't know
39:44she was dead,
39:46why wouldn't he
39:46continue to call her?
39:50After each side
39:51finishes presenting
39:52its case,
39:53the jury goes in
39:54for deliberation
39:55and after just five hours,
39:57they return with a verdict.
40:00Mr. Pierre
40:01was found guilty
40:02of murder
40:02in the second degree
40:03and subsequently
40:04sentenced to 25 years
40:06to life in prison.
40:10It was a great day.
40:12We were happy,
40:14but he didn't only
40:15kill Sandra,
40:16he killed my nephew.
40:18He killed her baby boy.
40:20He killed two people.
40:21He should have been
40:22in jail for life.
40:24I was worried
40:24in a few years
40:25he could be released
40:26and could be walking
40:27the streets
40:27and still live a long life.
40:31Mr. Pierre died
40:31in prison in 2024.
40:33Up until the time
40:34of his death,
40:35he continued to insist
40:36that he was not guilty
40:37of the murder
40:38and that he was not
40:39the father of the child.
40:40So, when we found out
40:43a few months ago
40:44that he passed,
40:46it felt like a gift.
40:52He's gone.
40:54We don't have to worry.
40:57I did 30 years
40:58with the NYPD,
40:5924 as a detective,
41:0112 years
41:02in the homicide squad,
41:03saw dead bodies.
41:05It's all bad.
41:07But,
41:07it's a case
41:09I'll never forget.
41:12Detective McLeod
41:13and NYPD detectives
41:15really worked
41:16this one hard.
41:17They wanted to get justice
41:18for Sandra
41:19and her family.
41:21And,
41:22to this day,
41:24Brian is still
41:25affected by this case.
41:26It's emotional.
41:28I was getting
41:29a letter in the mail
41:30from the family
41:31through Detective
41:33Brian McLeod.
41:34Thanks for taking
41:35time out of your day
41:36to really make mine.
41:40They sent me
41:41a $1,000 gift card.
41:43Put it in here.
41:47And,
41:48I sent back
41:48that gift card
41:49with a note.
41:51The note basically said
41:53something to the effect
41:54of,
41:55with all the negativity
41:56in this world,
41:57why don't you buy
41:58all the younger
41:59kids in the family
42:01cameras so they
42:02can go take pictures
42:03of the beauty
42:04of the world.
42:06In this photo,
42:06you can literally see
42:07how beautiful Sandra is
42:09and that perfect nose.
42:10Yeah.
42:11That's the picture
42:12I have next to my bed.
42:15The portrait.
42:17We keep Sandra's
42:18memory alive
42:19by looking at her pictures
42:21and by talking
42:23about her,
42:25sometimes celebrating her.
42:28I always have her
42:30in my heart.
42:30I always have her
42:32in my heart.
42:33I always have her
42:34in my heart.
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