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00:00loved her profession it was a calling for her to help people who were in the
00:05midst of crisis Sam had a way with people that was her passion a tragic
00:13discovery she was shot three times with a small caliber weapon a secret romance
00:20they asked me if I knew who the father of Samantha's baby was and I did not know
00:27a web of lies the motive was just really really crazy in this case you tell you
00:33who actually pulled the trigger but is it business was she killed because of her
00:38job or a killer relationship you tell me how do you forgive
00:57tenacious determined strong these are just some of the words used to describe Samantha Dean when
01:09Samantha's in sixth grade she writes in her journal that she wants to become a police officer so she
01:14can go out and help others it becomes her mission to make sure those in need feel safe but Samantha's
01:21mission is cut short when at 29 she's found dead miles from home and the horrific truth about what
01:29brought her promising life to an end shocks a city and rattles the law enforcement community
01:36it's 2 a.m. when Deputy Brian Reyes with the Bastrop County Sheriff's Office is performing a routine
01:48check of a vacant shopping center parking lot he first noticed that there was a black charger parked
01:57in this dumpster enclosure which piqued his interest that's not a very usual place to park a vehicle
02:02especially in the middle of the night as he gets closer he notices a body flying halfway out of the
02:17the passenger side of the car covered in black plastic are you awake the sheriff's office the victim appears
02:25deceased they determined that they had a homicide
02:28first responders from the Bastrop County Sheriff's Office identified the victim as 29 year
02:47old Samantha Dean what we learned in those early hours is that Samantha Dean worked in law enforcement
02:55and was a victim services counselor not that you don't give effort in all your cases but the law
03:01enforcement community it takes murder like this very seriously when it's one of their own that is a victim
03:07from the moment she was born on May 12 1985 near military base in Nuremberg Germany Samantha Elizabeth Dean is full of surprises
03:25we were told the baby was going to be a boy we didn't realize it was a girl until she popped out and the doctor said oh you have a girl and it was three days later before we had a name for her
03:40right away Samantha Samantha just had that it factor I didn't want her to grow up you just wanted her to be around all the time in 1998 when I
03:54exit the military we moved to San Antonio Texas to pursue our dreams as a civilians
04:01this is the first video camera I've ever had and it's really neat bye see you later
04:10I met Sam when we were 15 we became great friends she just had an aura that everybody was attracted to her
04:19I was a homebody I didn't like to go out and she was the one person that could lure me out
04:29she was never that type of girl chasing boys she wasn't that person at least not that I was aware of
04:39we were giggly and you know all enamored with the boys but we wanted the best of them
04:47we knew at an early age we wanted to find the one
04:50but the one will have to wait Samantha's got more important things on her mind
04:56when she was in sixth grade she said she wanted to become a police officer
05:02when she told me that she wanted to be a police officer it was not a surprise
05:06because Sam has a way with people and speaking to people and de-escalating situations
05:12and just connecting with people and I knew that she would be amazing at it
05:19when she graduated in 2003 she settled on University of Texas in San Antonio
05:27but during her freshman year 18 year old Samantha starts to feel chronic and unexplained pain
05:34she was having some difficulty being able to really move her left arm
05:40and it started to get stiffer
05:42it got to the point where she couldn't move it anymore
05:45and we found out that she had sarcoma cancer in her left elbow
05:49she started chemo treatment and we did that for two and a half months
05:55she went in every day
05:57reporting live from Methodist Ambulatory Surgical Hospital
06:06this is my third operation on my elbow
06:10you see my pretty machine
06:12she had that fight in her
06:16it was going to be challenging
06:18but it was not a doubt in her mind that she was going to beat it
06:21and she does beat it
06:23with the cancer in remission
06:25Samantha plans to fulfill her childhood dream of becoming a police officer
06:29but she faces another setback
06:31the lasting effects of the cancer and its treatment
06:34have left her with limited mobility in her left hand and elbow
06:38she's unable to meet the strict physical requirements necessary to join the force
06:44down but not out
06:46Samantha looks for another way to serve her community
06:51Samantha graduated in December of 2007 from UTSA
06:58she still was thinking FBI something
07:02she wanted to go to New York to pursue a masters degree
07:07after graduating from John Jay College with a masters degree in psychology and criminal justice
07:13Samantha heads back to Texas
07:15she applies for and is accepted to work as a volunteer at the Austin Police Department
07:20in their victims advocate unit
07:23the majority of the calls that we got were domestic violence sexual assault and death calls
07:29she would ride out in the city vehicle with me and we would go to calls together
07:34as a victims advocate she could be there with those individuals when they needed it
07:42in 2012 Samantha is offered a full-time job at the Kyle Police Department half an hour south of Austin as their first victim services advocate
07:55Samantha was there during the notifications of death of the family to help them bring comfort to the family to guide them through that difficult time in their lives
08:07Samantha works at the Kyle Police Department for just over two and a half years
08:12but now her dream is shattered
08:14cruelly taken away from her
08:16in the shadows of a dark vacant parking lot far from home
08:21she was shot three times with a small caliber weapon
08:25you can see there's a lot of blood that's pooled in the center console
08:30that looks like she'd probably been shot in the driver's seat and then slumped over
08:36there was evidence that she was drug across the front passenger seat
08:40and then ultimately on the ground just outside the front passenger seat of the vehicle
08:45and there was no fingerprints or shell casing that was collected from the crime scene
08:51the absence of evidence suggests the killer or killers made an effort to clean up
08:56but what they left behind peaks investigators interest
09:01there was some marijuana placed in the vehicle that was sitting on top of the blood
09:06rather than blood being on top of it so it was obvious that that was placed down
09:09after the crime had occurred so it appeared that the crime scene was staged
09:12to kind of make it look like a drug deal had gone bad or something to that nature
09:16also they found in the center console an atm receipt that showed a withdrawal for one hundred dollars
09:23earlier that same night and approximately a hundred dollars in cash in the center console
09:28the atm receipt told us 9 36 pm she was at the valero gas station at william cannon i-35
09:35and that was significant because it gave them a starting point to go back to that store and get surveillance video
09:42and what the investigators find next might provide valuable answers
09:48there was a phone found inside her vehicle it was her personal phone
09:51the initial thing was to get into that phone and figure out who she was communicating with
09:56and there is something else
09:59when examining samantha's body the investigators realize there is a second victim
10:05Samantha it appeared was pregnant
10:09it's bad enough that you get a woman prime of her life senselessly murdered
10:16you get a baby that didn't even have an opportunity to live a life yet that was also taken
10:21one of the first things we want to do is determine you know who the father of that child is
10:28and where are they and what role does that person play in samantha's life
10:32we had a relationship based on sex
10:35the thing about her job is that it put her in proximity to people who were often violent offenders
10:44my phone dinged and it said i got her i'm coming for you i just felt my heart drop through my stomach
10:54and i remember thinking who is screaming like that and then i realized it was me
11:09i'm coming for you i'm coming for you
11:12i'm coming for you
11:1429 year old samantha dean who was pregnant with her first child has been shot to death in a deserted parking lot
11:20and police have no idea why
11:23statistically most victims know their killer
11:26so investigators with the bastrop police department need to find out who the father of samantha's baby is
11:33for that they go to samantha's parents
11:36but first investigators have to break the unimaginable news that their daughter has been murdered
11:44when they notified me i didn't quite understand what they were saying
11:50did i just not hear them correctly because it didn't register right away
11:56i go to work wednesday morning
11:59two ladies from our human resource office area
12:03they come in and they're asking me to come upstairs
12:07we go up to one of the conference rooms
12:13i see my husband and then i saw a lady
12:18and she had on the same kind of clothing that sam would wear as an advocate
12:24all i remember is her saying sam's name
12:29and then i remember hearing murdered
12:32and i remember hearing screaming
12:36and i remember thinking
12:40who is screaming like that
12:44and then i realized it was me
12:48they asked me if i knew who the father of samantha's baby was
13:00and i did not know
13:03as transparent as sammy was
13:07she didn't want to talk about the father
13:11the only thing that i did know that he was a police officer
13:15samantha may not have told her parents who the father of her baby was
13:22but investigators are hoping she confided in friends or co-workers
13:27detectives had me come to the special investigations unit
13:32at austin police department to ask me questions
13:36and i told them sometime in august
13:39she showed up to the door
13:41i let her in and as soon as she walked through the threshold of the door
13:46she just started sobbing
13:48and told me that she was pregnant
13:51and she said she was embarrassed to tell me
13:54because i knew who the person was that she was pregnant by
13:58and it just immediately clicked for me that it had to be von trey clark
14:03because that's the only person we have in common
14:08i knew who it was i didn't have to ask
14:11it was von trey
14:13von trey clark is a 33 year old police officer at the austin police department
14:19he and samantha met six years earlier
14:21when they were both employed at a pharmaceutical company
14:24it started as a friendship with them
14:27and just spurred into a relationship
14:31they got along really well
14:33but it wasn't something that was out in the open either
14:36because he was dating someone else as well
14:40she was very clear that it was not the situation that she wanted
14:46but she had been a cancer survivor
14:50and after the radiation and chemo
14:53she didn't know she'd have the opportunity to be pregnant again
14:57and so she was going to keep it
15:00and knowing clark
15:03i just thought he doesn't want her to do this
15:06because his girlfriend is going to find out
15:11that information was passed on to bastrop county
15:14and that's initially what spurred bastrop county to bring voluntary in
15:18and you work for the city of austin
15:20how long you've been with apd
15:21almost three years
15:23first and foremost my condolences
15:25uh i know you told me a little bit on the phone
15:27that she was carrying your baby
15:28so my condolences
15:30but with that said
15:32tell me how long have you known her
15:35i've known sam for
15:37six years maybe seven years
15:39we used to work together at a different company
15:41we didn't have a relationship like we didn't hang out
15:43we didn't date or anything
15:44we had a relationship based on sex
15:46von trey had been living with uh another woman
15:49and for several years
15:50they had a child together
15:51and were also raising another child
15:53that von trey had had previously with another woman
15:56when we got pregnant
15:57um she told me she was in love with me
16:00i didn't i was
16:02i didn't feel the same way
16:04we had an argument that
16:05at that point and kind of
16:06we stopped talking for a while
16:08and this happened the night before last
16:11can you remember what you were doing
16:12yeah
16:13probably eight eight thirty is
16:15probably about the time the kids go to bed
16:16so
16:17about nine or so
16:18nine thirty
16:19i left
16:20because
16:21in my current relationship
16:22we're going through problems
16:24so i left
16:26um
16:27i went to the school that's
16:28we have a school right across the street
16:29chilled in my car
16:30walked around for a little bit
16:31and i ended up going to the uh police station
16:34what'd you do there
16:35i read a report
16:37about what time do you think you got there
16:39uh
16:40around eleven forty five
16:42how long do you think you you guess you stayed there
16:45thirty minutes
16:46thirty minutes
16:47what'd you do after that
16:48i went home
16:49well
16:50bastrop county detectives work on corroborating von trey's alibi
16:54they pull surveillance cameras and entry records from the austin pd south station
17:00sure enough cameras catch von trey arriving around twelve eleven a.m. and leaving at twelve forty a.m.
17:07but the hours between nine p.m. and midnight are completely unaccounted for
17:12investigators believe samantha was shot shortly after ten p.m.
17:17that's a pretty big window of time to be able to commit this crime
17:21since von trey is now connected to the investigation he is placed on paid administrative leave as standard procedure
17:28and when the press gets wind of the fact that a police officer might possibly be connected to samantha's case the story blows up
17:37tonight investigators are trying to figure out who murdered a member of the kyle police department
17:42she was an outstanding asset to our community
17:45her life was taken too soon
17:47this became a very intensely followed story in austin
17:55and to have a police officer now tied up in this huge investigation absolutely changed the scope of everything
18:03as media attention grows so does the pressure on law enforcement to solve the case
18:10by now investigators have been able to pull security footage from the valero gas station
18:16where samantha withdrew one hundred dollars at nine thirty six p.m.
18:21at the same time von trey clark said he was taking a walk in his neighborhood
18:27the surveillance video showed she came into the store by herself she goes directly to the atm
18:32makes the cash withdrawal and immediately leaves the store
18:36the surveillance video doesn't offer any additional clues
18:39but five days after the murder samantha's phone records are now back from the crime lab
18:45we started going through a lot of the phone records and really starting to put the pieces together
18:50the data shows that while samantha was traveling to bastrop from austin she received a text from an unknown phone number
18:58that was the very first time we could find that she's ever communicated with that number
19:01investigators need to know who does that number belong to
19:05while the bastrop sheriff's office follows that lead
19:09stephanie burgess samantha's friend and fellow victims advocate at austin pd gets a startling text
19:16my phone dinged and i looked at it and it was a number i didn't know
19:21and it said i got her i'm coming for you i'll show you what a crisis is
19:30and i just felt my heart drop through my stomach and i just started shaking
19:38oh my god is there some killer out there targeting victim services counselors
19:45just five days after samantha dean's murder her friend and fellow victims counselor stephanie burgess
19:57receives a threatening text stephanie doesn't recognize the number
20:01but the message seems clear whoever killed samantha is now after her
20:08that message came to stephanie's personal number we want to know who would have had that number
20:14and how the person said that message would have got it
20:16i felt so scared and the chief at the time called me and told me that i needed to go somewhere safe that was not my own apartment
20:28stephanie goes into hiding and the texas rangers join the case
20:35we were asked to join the case by austin pd they wanted us involved so we could navigate those multiple jurisdictions
20:40the team of investigators now has to consider another motive for samantha's murder revenge
20:47the thing about her job is that it put her in proximity to people who were often violent offenders
20:56so was this in some way connected to her profession in law enforcement
21:02had she helped a victim of domestic violence flee a violent situation and was someone retaliating against her for that reason
21:12at this point investigators have two mysteries to solve
21:17who texted with samantha on the night of her murder
21:21and who sent the threatening text to stephanie five days later
21:25both texts were from different numbers but detectives have a hunch they're connected
21:31they start with the text that samantha received
21:34we obtained the point of purchase information from the cell service provider
21:37which indicated that phone was purchased at the walmart in stafford the morning of samantha's murder
21:43and then we obtained the time and date it was purchased from walmart
21:48and then obtained surveillance video of the person that purchased that phone
21:51we saw a black male wearing a houston cougars hoodie and gray sweatpants enter the walmart
22:01go to the phone section uh get the phone he then went to a register purchased the phone
22:06and then left the walmart in a white toyota car and we were able to obtain that license plate
22:11from the video as well
22:12the car is registered to a woman named kyla fisk
22:16so once we figured out who kyla fisk was we did a little research on her
22:19we did a little research on her through social media and public databases of known associates
22:24saw she was in a relationship with a gentleman named kevin watson
22:27and kevin watson bears a striking resemblance to the man seen in the walmart video
22:33watson and kyla fisk both have prior arrests in houston for drug dealing
22:40they were on probation currently for a drug arrest they were selling narcotics
22:44so at this point we're trying to figure out how they're related to samantha
22:48do they know samantha in any kind of way
22:50and are they connected in any way to the marijuana found in samantha's car
22:55which detectives believe was placed in the vehicle after samantha was shot
23:01we definitely don't think she was out there to buy any drugs or do any kind of drug deal
23:06and when we see drug rifts it's involving cocaine methamphetamine something that has a significant street value
23:12and that further solidified us as this being a setup
23:15with the drug angle officially off the table
23:18the team of investigators still needs to determine how
23:21or if samantha's connected to kevin watson and kyla fisk
23:26they take a look at the burner phone's call logs
23:29once the phone was activated there was two phone calls placed
23:33one was made to kyla fisk which wasn't surprising to us
23:36kevin watson and kyla they're in a relationship together
23:39but the second phone call was to von trey clark
23:43police are blindsided
23:45why is a known drug dealer in contact with a law enforcement officer
23:49investigators subpoena both watson and clark's personal phone records
23:54and what they discover is stunning
23:57hundreds of texts and calls between von trey clark and kevin watson
24:02over a period of years
24:04we learned that they were very very close with each other
24:08they had spent time playing basketball together went to school together
24:12a matter of fact kevin's mom thought of von trey like a son
24:15they referred to each other's brothers and they had a very close relationship
24:18despite the obvious connection between clark and watson
24:22investigators decide not to bring either man in for questioning
24:27at this time everything's being done behind the scenes
24:29and we don't want anybody to know that we're on to him yet
24:32get their guard up
24:33investigators next turn their focus to the second phone
24:37the one that sent stephanie burgess the threatening text
24:41it was purchased at a walmart in katie texas
24:4440 minutes from where the first phone was purchased
24:48a couple of detectives from austin police department
24:51went down there and obtained the purchase receipt for that phone
24:55and also the surveillance video of the purchase of that phone
24:59from the photograph of the two individuals buying the phone that day
25:03that one of them for sure was kevin watson
25:06it looked like he shaved his beard off but other than that
25:08you could tell it was kevin watson
25:10now that we know kevin watson's involved in buying the phone that sent stephanie burgess the threatening text message
25:17and he's bought the phone that was used in the murder of samantha
25:20we've now connected kevin to both of those offenses
25:24and what about the second man could he be involved in making the threat to stephanie
25:30the detectives need to identify him
25:33then as we're reviewing the records for the first burner phone
25:37the one that was communicating with samantha on the night of the murder
25:40we see that it's also communicating with a third burner phone
25:43we realized that it was activated in austin near clark's residence
25:47so we definitely believe von trey clark was in possession of that phone
25:58investigators in the murder of samantha dean
26:00have used geolocation data to place a burner phone in the hands of von trey clark
26:05but the mystery only deepens from there
26:08so after reviewing the records for the phone that von trey clark had
26:12we saw where he was communicating with a guy named freddie smith
26:16von trey was in contact with freddie several times
26:19up to the murder on that burner phone
26:21we're like here we go again we got another guy to run down
26:24look at research and see what his connection is and all this
26:28and through that research investigators learn that freddie smith also has a burner phone
26:34they subpoena its records and discover that it too is communicating with clark and watson
26:40on the night of the murder and from the geolocation data each phone tracks from their individual
26:47residences to the same final location the deserted shopping mall in bastrop where samantha was shot to death
26:55everything fell into place what's more samantha dean's personal phone also travels from her home in austin to the parking lot in bastrop and she is not traveling alone
27:10the night of the murder of the burner phone that von trey had was geolocating off the same towers as samantha's phone
27:17which was uh indicative that he was in the car with samantha
27:22detectives feel confident that von trey clark kevin watson and freddie smith are all involved in some way with the murder of samantha dean
27:32but what they don't have is a smoking gun
27:39we've got a really good case on cell phones but obviously we know cell phones can't pull the trigger
27:44and so we don't know who played what role in the murder at this point
27:49we're still at a point we're not ready to go do any interviews with any suspects we didn't want to spook them
27:55while the investigative team continues to gather evidence thousands of mourners line interstate 35 south
28:02as samantha's body is transported home from bastrop
28:06today we have the entire community of kyle that's come together here to celebrate samantha dean
28:12a police escort the body back to san antonio and people were over overpasses fire trucks police cars
28:25um people waving people crying literally in the thousands
28:31on february 13th kelvin and kimberly dean say their goodbyes to their daughter and their unborn granddaughter
28:39whom samantha had planned to name madeline there were people at a funeral that came
28:46that said that if it wasn't for her they wouldn't be here so um that's how i know that you know not
28:57only was she a great person but she went beyond the call she won't be remembered as a statistic
29:04she won't be thought of as kyle police department victim services coordinator whose life was taken
29:08she will be remembered as samantha dean friend and family
29:13samantha is buried with her daughter madeline rose dean while the father of her unborn child
29:20and his associates remain free
29:23investigators continue to peel back the complicated layers of samantha dean's case
29:29samantha dean's case and soon they make another critical discovery the mysterious man who was with kevin
29:36watson on the day he purchased the phone that sent the threatening text to stephanie burgess has finally been identified
29:44his name is aaron williams and investigators trace the car he was driving to his in-laws
29:51once we identified aaron williams and started looking at his phone record
29:56you could see the communication with him and kevin watson on a pretty regular basis
30:00but they need more so investigators try a new approach they set up surveillance and a wiretap
30:07we did approve to go up on all the phones of entre clark kevin watson freddie smith and aaron williams
30:15it's all happening live so you're listening to phone calls and seeing text messages as they happen
30:22the problem is no one is talking
30:25we realized early on that they're using gaming systems to communicate
30:30so at that point we kind of devised a plan to get a court order to interrupt von trey's internet service
30:36to force them off the gaming system and on to their phones so we can monitor that communications
30:43to get them talking investigators use a tactic called tickling the wire
30:50tickling the wire basically means we've got to have some kind of initiating event
30:53to get them to start talking about the crime so in this case that initiating event
30:56was for apd to go down there and talk to aaron williams's mother and father-in-law about why
31:01their car was in bastrop on february the 8th which we believe would spark a conversation to kevin
31:07and aaron williams immediately calls kevin watson and says we need to meet we can talk about
31:13something yeah from there it kind of kicked things off they've got kevin watson talking to some other
31:18people too about it
31:19it worked pretty well i got them talking but we still need somebody to break
31:38investigators in the murder of samantha dean catch a break while listening in on a wiretap of aaron williams and kevin watson
31:46and one conversation aaron angiously tells kevin that they have to meet in person to discuss an important matter
31:53after that in-person meeting they later did talk on the phone about what kind of story they were going to give detectives
31:59if they came asking him about why he was in bastrop and then you learn a little bit about them from their conversations
32:07their conversations and it becomes pretty obvious that aaron williams is really no criminal
32:14and so ultimately that's who brent and i focused on
32:19the rangers agree it's time to start moving in they bring aaron williams in for questioning
32:26and we quickly let him know that this is regards to a murder case and that's when aaron williams became
32:35very uncomfortable came very upset realizing that he had gotten himself into something that he probably
32:41shouldn't have but he still didn't want to give us any information
32:45the rangers are able to hit aaron williams with a charge called retaliation because he was present
32:53when kevin watson bought the phone that sent stephanie burgess the threatening text they hope a stint
32:59behind bars will give him time to consider his future and incentive to talk while aaron simmers in jail
33:07the surveillance finally pays off when rangers observe kevin watson showing up at freddie smith's house
33:16he's over there for a little while and they both get in the car and leave together
33:21and so we had a houston police department conduct a traffic stop on kevin watson and freddie smith
33:28after they left his house they found a fair amount of drugs in the vehicle they were both placed under arrest
33:33by houston police department for possession narcotics the pieces of the puzzle are falling into place
33:40but investigators still don't have enough to charge von trey clark with anything then a call comes in that
33:48changes everything we got a phone call from aaron williams attorney advising that he wished to now tell us
33:57tell us what he knew did he tell you he went to bastrop that night yes or no yes what did he say
34:05happened who went with him and what happened um freddie went and
34:12he told me they went and uh he told me that they killed the girl
34:27he tell you who who actually pulled the trigger no he didn't tell me who you said they yeah
34:33they want to kill that girl
34:40aaron williams had told us about how von trey clark had gotten a girl pregnant in austin and she did not
34:45want to have an abortion and he didn't want her to have the baby and he needed this girl gone
34:49von trey was in a relationship so von trey did not want her to know about him getting samantha pregnant
34:54he was not going to be able to hide this any longer she was going to seek child support and
34:59so kevin and freddie had been paid by von trey clark approximately five thousand dollars each to
35:04help von trey murder samantha dean the pressure is mounting with freddie smith and kevin watson
35:10behind bars and aaron williams singing like a bird it looks like they're closing in on von trey clark
35:17but justice will have to wait an interview had been set for von trey clark
35:24to sit down with internal affairs investigators from the austin police department who were investigating
35:31his conduct there's a time date and place for the interview except there's one problem von trey clark
35:40has skipped town von trey clark is likely in west jakarta indonesia
35:46disobeying direct orders to stay in the u.s. to cooperate with investigators
35:52get back on that plane and come back here to austin if you're innocent prove it
35:59that's when pretty much all hell broke loose and at that point i i just lost everything because i
36:05assumed that he was just gone i just knew it i knew he was gone
36:15with freddie smith and kevin watson behind bars on drug charges and investigators closing in
36:25von trey clark skips town to jakarta indonesia a non-extradition country looking to put himself
36:33beyond the reach of the law just because the country is a non-extradition country doesn't mean they
36:41can't extradite you in this case i'm sure indonesia was not in a big hurry to be harboring a fugitive
36:47from the united states is wanted for murder and so they were very happy to go ahead and take him into
36:53custody and let us come get him back in texas von trey clark is charged with capital murder just days later
37:01kevin watson is also charged with capital murder he decides to take a plea deal and tell all
37:09we learned that kevin watson essentially acted as an agent for von trey clark
37:15that kevin watson recruited freddie smith to come to austin and be the gunman that night
37:23on the night of february 3rd 2015 clark uses a false story to get samantha out of the house at 9 30
37:32pm trey was telling her that he was trying to buy a tablet and so his thing was picking up the money for
37:39the tablet and that's why they were going to the atm they stop off at the valero where she withdraws
37:45one hundred dollars but while samantha is in the store under the impression she's getting cash to
37:50buy a tablet von trey is in the car using samantha's phone to make it look like the cash is for a drug
37:57deal i didn't know clark was texting from her phone okay after samantha leaves the valero gas station
38:04she proceeds towards bastrop once there von trey clark and samantha drive into a shopping center
38:10parking lot we drive to go meet trey we pull up in the parking lot there's the black charger in
38:15the parking lot freddie smith got in the back seat i think she believed that he was jumping in to
38:21show the tablet and collect the money then freddie aims his gun at the back of samantha's head
38:28he attempted to shoot samantha but the gun malfunctioned when it didn't go off he was able to
38:33hide it fast enough and tell her hey i forgot the charger to the tablet i gotta i gotta leave and go
38:38get it and that gave him time to go fix the malfunction in the firearm according to watson it
38:45takes several minutes for freddie to fix the jammed gun then kevin drops freddie back off at samantha's
38:51car where he slides into the back seat kevin drops him back off he tells me about how he was in the
39:00back seat and he shot her twice bam bam and then trey wanted a gun and then he handed trey the gun and
39:09trey was he said something crazy and then shot her once when you say that that's not crazy any any idea
39:17what that would be something like you or something
39:24everything that kevin said seemed to line up with what our investigation showed
39:29when word gets back to von trey clark that watson flipped he's ready to make a deal to avoid the
39:35death penalty he pleads guilty on december 16th 2019 and is sentenced to life in prison without parole
39:44for his cooperation with prosecutors kevin watson gets a reduced sentence of 35 years freddie smith is
39:52the only person to go to trial in 2022 a jury finds him guilty of murder and sentences him to life in
40:01prison without the possibility of parole aaron williams had nothing to do with samantha's murder
40:08in this case it was a really really good team effort we got justice for samantha
40:12von trey clark has now been behind bars for six years and he'll never get out but it's a small
40:24comfort for samantha dean's mother who has lost both a loving daughter and a granddaughter
40:30you tell me how do you forgive
40:39i don't hate him i never hated him i don't hate any of them hate is one of those things that
40:52it takes so much out of you and i've lost so much of me in this whole process
41:01that i can't afford to have anything else taken from me
41:06on february 3rd 2025 10 years to the day after samantha dean's death sammy's family friends and
41:17colleagues gather at the cowl police department to unveil two special rooms where officers and staff
41:25interview crime victims the victim services soft interview room is named samantha space and the
41:32waiting area is named maddie's corner this room signifies everything that she was hoping to be able
41:39to do that she did her legacy continues on even though she's not here sam is with me every day i think
41:49of her every day and where she can't be here to be an advocate for domestic violence survivors we are
42:00here to tell her story to potentially save that next life without a doubt samantha dean was a fierce
42:08advocate and a loving daughter but her life was taken away by a man who swore to uphold the law
42:14yet broke it instead von trey clark refused to take responsibility for his actions
42:20his cowardice and cruelty led to a killer relationship
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