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00:00this case was one of the most horrific cases that I have ever worked on in my 27 years of
00:09doing police work her fingertips that had been sheared off were scattered on the ground right
00:16here you can't erase something you see you like that from your mind her mangled body just in a
00:22pile over here it was one of the worst crime scenes I've ever seen the dark blood that was
00:29sprayed on the walls the bloody handprint on the register here just told the story in itself she
00:38was my mom she's my mom you don't know if this was a single act or if this person is gonna go on a mass
00:46killing spree so now it's where is he and how do we find him I've never been on a manhunt quite like
00:53this before we've got a known murderer surrounded by a bunch of innocent people the crowd starts
01:00to disperse now we have a clear shot of this guy I was looking evil into the eyes
01:23on the morning of July 7th 2017 a housekeeper at America's Best Value Inn in Lansing Michigan
01:48makes a bone-chilling discovery there are three sisters who work at the motel the first one who's
02:08going through is doing checks for people who were supposed to check out but never stopped by the front
02:12door so she goes to the room and she knocks and there's no response she needs to confirm that the
02:19person has checked out so she tries to open the door she can't get it open very far but she peeks
02:24her head in and sees that there's a foot and that there's blood coming out from underneath the blanket
02:28behind the door she goes to get her sister who is another cleaning person there they then go to
02:34the third sister who works at the front desk and they ask her to call 911 and that's when the police respond
02:40all right get an ambulance and the police on the way don't let anybody else go into the room until
02:48uh we get there and check on it okay okay a Lansing police officer is immediately dispatched to the
02:55motel can you start for a call at the America's Best all of these on the way there 172 172
03:14anytime you respond to a call where you have a potential death involved yes your emotions start
03:21kick in and you realize that this is going to be one of those calls that you remember for the rest of
03:26your career I was actually pretty close to the call at the time that it came in I was able to make it to
03:35the scene within a minute and a half I was the first one on scene at the motel I pulled into the parking
03:42lot looked for the room number which was 172 I unholstered my gun I approached the door when I tried
03:52to open the door though I was only able to open it about a foot before it was stopped I immediately
03:57recognized that I had a body on the floor and I backed out of the room to wait for additional units
04:02to come to the scene it was more than 30 seconds to a minute and another officer appeared on scene
04:18the urgency was real we needed to go into the room we went in just the two of us together I opened the
04:28door I actually needed to push the body a little bit further so that we could get into the room we
04:35entered the room I had my gun drawn we needed to clear the room which means check the room for any
04:40other people inside of the room and make sure we had no other threats inside that we needed to deal
04:44with you don't know what you're going to come across when you go into a scene like that we walked
04:51through the room we made sure there was nobody else inside the room we checked the bathroom we checked
04:57the closet we looked under the bed we located no other people inside of the room upon being in the
05:04room I realized the severity of what we had come across what immediately we picked up on was the smell
05:11of blood there was blood on the floors the walls the bed the air conditioner the table it was one of
05:22the worst crime scenes I've ever seen detectives from Michigan State Police are called in to
05:41investigate the scene it was July when this happened it was a very very hot day but as I pull in now
05:54with everything looks the same a couple cars scattered here and there the residents that have taken up a
06:03little bit permanent residency here hanging outside their rooms
06:08on this little drive this was all blocked off by yellow crime scene tape
06:17as I stood outside and I looked in the story of what happened could be followed by the blood as it started
06:33from the bed area and was sprayed up on the ceiling it was clear to those of us on scene that the fight
06:41started at the bed and moved its way over to the door there was blood on the sink where the perpetrator tried
06:51to wash off what he could this case was one of the most horrific cases that I have ever worked on in my 27
07:01years of doing police work it was very obvious that a struggle had occurred in the room there was some
07:12drugs involved as we found some drug paraphernalia in the room looking at our victim it was not
07:23immediately apparent who she was we knew she was a female by long blonde hair her anatomy but you could
07:33not look at her face and immediately tell who she was there was way too much blood on her face and too
07:41many injuries it was absolutely a scene of carnage the medical examiner assesses the extensive trauma
07:52to the victim's body and identifies the cause of death judging by the puncture wounds and everything
08:01it was very quite clear that she had been stabbed each fingertip on her hand had been cut off and in my
08:10mind I can just picture her sticking her hands up and trying to defend herself from the knife perhaps even
08:20grabbing out for the knife just to fight it away and obviously the knife is gonna cut right through
08:26right through her fingers and those who are laying on the ground right next to her other detectives in
08:35the room had found an identification card with her picture on it but you could not hold the picture next
08:42to her body and be able to say the woman in the picture is who is laying here on the floor you
08:49have no other leads to go on at that time you have to go with what makes sense here what is most likely to
08:56be true and at that time what was most likely to be true is that our victim on the floor is the one in
09:03the picture of whose identification card we found that was Christina Daffenbaugh whenever a homicide in
09:16Ingham County would happen the first thing that we would do would be to contact the victim's family
09:20and ask them to come in in this case that was her parents I was at work and I got a call on my phone
09:31and they asked me the strangest question they asked me did the Pacifica that belongs to us when my daughter
09:40was driving were the windows broken in it I said no and then they're asking something about a motel
09:47and I didn't quite understand what it was but it was something very very strange to me anxious after
09:57the call from police Patricia leaves work and gets the bus home she gets off at her stop which is
10:04directly opposite America's best value in I could see the police and something terribly going on at the
10:13motel the delights and the police and just all kinds of things going on at the motel and I got home and
10:29shortly after we got a knock on the door and detective Johnston and another detective came when they broke the
10:39news and it was terrible after the initial moments of just not even being able to understand what this
10:50victim went through and her last moments of life after that passes through your mind now it's who is
10:57this monster that put another human being through something so traumatic like this there's somebody out on
11:05a loose that is responsible for having done this and we've got to find them we had her parents come
11:21in shortly after the murder and we sat down with them and we talked to them about who Christina was
11:26what we learned is that Christina had been living with her parents she'd struggled with drug addiction
11:32they had asked her to leave for a period of time and that she was working on going to rehab around this
11:38time and they were very hopeful that she was getting better she was homeless frequent a motel to motel
11:45they spoke glowingly of her they were still involved in her life she was driving their car on this night so
11:53they were still in communication I was raised by my grandparents my mother was there she just was pretty young
12:01when she had me 18 so yes my my grandparents they they ran the shows mostly my grandmother bless her heart she
12:12is the one that would make sure we got off to school and got to our doctor's appointments and everything you know but she
12:19was still there I mean everybody you know like has their ups and downs but I mean she she did her best and we we were happy
12:29a lot of memories I have of her is always wanting me to do like her hair she loved having it like the tips
12:36dyed different colors and I would be the one to do that she would get the boxed eyes and be like Becca can
12:42you do my hair purple today or blue you know like a purple and blue like she let me help her do that so
12:47those are really good memories I have about 10 years before her death she had started to just spiral in a
13:03way like it just slowly just started to go down until she just couldn't get out of this rut no matter how
13:12much she tried every day just depression and anxiety and just everything just got a little much for her
13:21investigators learned that prior to her being murdered Christina had been getting her life back on track
13:28we had actually kind of hit a good breakthrough with her a little bit before you know like she was taking
13:38her meds again she was seemed a happier person seemed like she was doing really good and she was getting
13:47out of that rut and she was really trying to turn her life around at that point she was looking forward to a party
13:56the next day for her grandchild her grandson and that was something she was looking forward to and I I had talked to her the day before and I said Tina you got to get help and she says I know mom I I am going to I want to thank she thanked me for reminding her that she needed to get help
14:23and
14:25it was hard
14:30after informing Christina's next of kin investigators focus on finding her killer
14:48investigators speak to witnesses outside the motel
14:53So how long has that guy been seen here for? Do you know?
14:57The first time he got here was yesterday morning.
15:01No, what was yesterday?
15:04Yesterday would have been Thursday.
15:05So that was Wednesday, the first time I saw him.
15:07And then yesterday, my wife and I were at the Myers gas station.
15:10He pulled up, he was like, hey, you guys at the hotel, right?
15:13I'm like, yeah.
15:14He was like, I'll give you guys a ride back.
15:16But my wife, out of her mouth, she was like, I don't feel comfortable getting in the car.
15:20And so we just ended up walking.
15:22And so he stopped me.
15:22And he was like, yeah, I went to the casino and wanted some money.
15:26What time was it yesterday at the Myers gas station?
15:27Do you know?
15:28This was in the, it was like around 5, 6.
15:34When we came back, he was standing outside his door.
15:37He was like, hey, you guys want to smoke?
15:38You want to chill?
15:39I'm like, no, I'm like, my wife and my kids down there, we good.
15:42So he came down and knocked on the door like around 8.30, 9 o'clock.
15:47And he was like, well, do you know where I can get some weed from?
15:49I'm like, I don't know nobody up here.
15:51We're from Detroit.
15:51I just played it off because I'm like, I really don't know you.
15:54And my wife and I already said she got a bad feeling from me.
15:57So I'm standing in the door about, it had to be about 11.15, maybe 11.30.
16:03And I was smoking a cigarette.
16:05And I heard a bam.
16:07And that's what made me come to the door.
16:10And the room door, he had slung the room door open and jumped in the car and just sped off.
16:14Slung your room door?
16:15Like, no, no, no, his room.
16:17What time was that?
16:18This was about 11, between 11.15 and 11.30.
16:21P.M.?
16:21Yes, sir.
16:22What does this guy look like?
16:24How tall are you?
16:25Six foot.
16:27So he was about, maybe about 6'1".
16:29Black male, white male, Hispanic males?
16:31Light skinned, but I know he's African-American.
16:33He's light skinned.
16:34He has a very slim build and he has tattoos.
16:39Tattoos?
16:40Yes.
16:40All over his arms and...
16:42His arms and he had one on the side of his neck going towards, like, down by his shoulder.
16:49Remember anything about the tattoos?
16:51No, they were...
16:52Was it writing or anything?
16:55It was a design.
16:56A design?
16:57And then he had different pictures of stuff on his arms and stuff.
17:01Okay.
17:01So what about this vehicle then?
17:02It was a white, you said?
17:03It was a white Taurus.
17:05Older model?
17:05Yes.
17:06It was...
17:06Because I had one.
17:08So it's either a 99 or a 98.
17:11And it was white.
17:13Okay.
17:14And it had, like, kind of, like, black trim a little bit.
17:18Not throughout the whole vehicle, but certain parts had, like, black trim on it.
17:21Like on the door?
17:22On the door and, like, the front on the sides and stuff.
17:28Okay.
17:28You never saw a license plate on it?
17:29When he was at the Myers Gas Station, there wasn't a plate on there.
17:34Okay.
17:34And that was one of the reasons why my wife said she didn't feel comfortable riding back
17:37over here with them.
17:38Did he ever give you a name or anything?
17:39He just said, call me G.
17:41Call me G?
17:42That's all.
17:43That's what he said.
17:46Staff at the motel give police a crucial lead.
17:49So, yeah.
17:51So we would be looking...
17:53We want cameras from about 11 to 11.30-ish.
18:00Surveillance video played a critical role in this.
18:03And luckily, just because it was meant to be, there was a surveillance video right outside
18:08this room.
18:19July 7th, 2017.
18:22Detectives are about to learn the name of their suspect in the murder of Christina Davenbaugh.
18:27The identification of our suspect was not difficult.
18:32He rented the room in his own name.
18:35We found a receipt inside the room where he had ordered a pizza from a local establishment.
18:42We had his phone number on that receipt.
18:45We were able to contact that establishment, get his name that matched the name that the
18:49room was reserved under.
18:53His name is Curtis Eccles.
19:02Further investigation revealed that Curtis was from the state of Ohio.
19:07He had driven up to Michigan on that day.
19:11He'd gone on a bit of a crime spree on the way down, from what we understand.
19:16He arrived there in a stolen car from Ohio.
19:20And then he checks into the motel room.
19:34It showed Christina arriving to the room, what vehicle she was driving.
19:39And it also showed that nobody else other than those two had been in that room that night.
19:46Further key evidence is uncovered in room 172.
19:49They find a receipt from Meijer, which is a department store nearby.
19:56They find a box for a kitchen knife.
19:59And they find the kitchen knife from that box outside in the parking lot.
20:04A unique characteristic about the knife, which we still aren't sure why this happened, but
20:10the knife was burned at the tip and then more or less melted and pushed to kind of be like
20:17a hook.
20:18That's not how it came from the package, so Curtis must have done that before or after
20:23the fact.
20:23Either way, the receipt that we found in the motel room showed that he had purchased the
20:30knife and a roll of duct tape from this Meijer behind me.
20:33Using that receipt, they were able to find their surveillance video from the transaction.
20:38What they found was that he had walked there earlier in that day after checking into the
20:43motel.
20:44And he bought two things.
20:45He bought duct tape and he bought a small steak knife.
20:48And then he walked back to his motel unit.
20:53You're staying in a motel room for a night.
20:56You know you've got a girl coming over.
20:58What are you walking across the street to the grocery store to buy duct tape and a knife
21:02for?
21:03This was absolutely premeditated.
21:07And then shortly after returning, Christina arrived.
21:14We don't know what happens in the room.
21:16We have a few pieces of information.
21:19We have the text messaging between him and her recovered from their phones where she agrees
21:23to come to that location.
21:25She expresses some concern because she thinks that she may have been banned from that motel,
21:30but he convinces her to come anyway.
21:32We know from surveillance video that shortly before she gets there, he moves his car back
21:38to the dumpster at the back of the motel complex and then walks back to the room.
21:42She enters the room, closes the door.
21:45We see that door open one more time.
21:49The surveillance video showed her hands coming out of the doorway.
21:53You could see the blood from her hands in the door jam.
21:56It was very obvious that a struggle had occurred in the room and that Christina was trying to
22:06get out of the room in every way possible.
22:09The fact that she agreed to meet up with him that night, there didn't appear to be any kind of fear of him.
22:20She went there knowingly.
22:22She stayed for a while.
22:25And then something happened inside that motel room that just sent Curtis over the edge.
22:30And he got out that knife and stabbed Christina repeatedly until she died.
22:35The door closes, and that's the last we see of her.
22:42He leaves the motel a little bit after that, gets in her car, takes that to the back of the motel complex,
22:48gets in the car that he had stolen, that he had parked there, and drove away.
22:52Somebody would only do that if they're trying to conceal that Christina was at the motel.
22:57You don't know if this was a single act, or if this person is going to go on a mass killing spree.
23:11So now it's, where is he, and how do we find him?
23:15July 7th, 2017.
23:27Detectives have learned the name of their suspect, Curtis Eccles, but do not know where he is now.
23:33Investigators contact the service provider of Curtis' cell phone in an attempt to learn his current location.
23:39They have the technology to be able to locate the device right away.
23:47Mr. Eccles' phone was turned on, possibly in use, and we received a location in Indiana.
23:59I would presume that Curtis knows that we're going to find him eventually.
24:04I was sitting post-command, answering the phones and assisting with dispatch,
24:27when I received a phone call from the Lansing Police Department.
24:34They had pinged the phone on I-80 at Edwardsburg Road,
24:38which is the location of the service area on the Indiana Toll Road at the 90-mile marker.
24:46I dispatched to Trooper Hipsher, who was working in that area.
24:54When I received the dispatch about the report of the suspect on the interstate,
25:08it was believed that he was approximately the center of the zone that I work.
25:13So I started traveling from the 73-mile marker, which is on the west end of my zone,
25:18toward that location, which was approximately 18 to 20 miles.
25:23At that time, my partner was just a few miles up the road from me
25:28and also was en route to that same location to locate the vehicle and identify the subject.
25:33It was a white four-door 1999 Ford with Ohio plates.
25:43However, the plates may or may not be on the vehicle at this time.
25:48Right now we are pulling into a service area of 5 South.
25:56This is the first location that my partner searched the rest area for the vehicle in question.
26:05While he did that, I sat at a crossover in the median of the toll road
26:12just to observe additional traffic coming by to make sure nobody got by us.
26:17And from the thousands and thousands of vehicles that go across the Indiana Toll Road,
26:23it was like a needle in a haystack.
26:25We also notified the Indiana Toll Road Concession Company,
26:34which is a company that runs the entire interstate.
26:37We asked them to monitor all their cameras at the toll plazas
26:43to see if any vehicles matching the description were to exit.
26:46So as we were coming westbound, the Indiana Toll Road Concession Company contacted us
26:50and let us know that a vehicle matching the description,
26:54or at least close to matching the description,
26:56was exiting at the 77 exit, which is the Notre Dame exit.
27:00My partner exited the toll road and went into the town of Roseland
27:05to see if he could find the vehicle in question.
27:09I've never been on a manhunt quite like this before
27:11because of the allegations that were against him,
27:14the fact that he had this felony warrant for rape
27:16as well as being a suspect in a homicide case
27:21that was discovered that day.
27:25I was beginning to get a little bit nervous
27:27that we weren't going to find the subject
27:29while we were on the interstate
27:30because of all the different ping locations
27:32and not finding a vehicle that matched that description
27:34according to the areas that we were looking.
27:38Wasn't sure how long the delay was on these pings,
27:41that we weren't finding this
27:42because we had already come through those areas coming eastbound,
27:47and now we're traveling back westbound
27:49to try to catch up to this alleged vehicle that he's operating.
27:53So it was a little concerning.
27:56About 10 minutes later,
27:58I received another phone call from Lansing Police Department
28:02that stated that the suspect's phone was pinging
28:05near the area of U.S. 20 and 31.
28:08Now I'm familiar with that area,
28:10and I know that if they were to go on 20,
28:12if they went westbound,
28:13it's a common way that they go into Chicago.
28:17But on the other hand,
28:18if they were to go east at that location,
28:20they were going right to the South Bend Airport.
28:32July 7, 2017.
28:35Indiana police are chasing Curtis Echols,
28:37their prime suspect in the murder of Christina Davenbaugh.
28:42His phone was last pinged heading towards a crossroads
28:45to either Chicago or the South Bend Airport.
28:49Lansing Police Department called back just a couple minutes later
28:52and said his phone was pinging at the airport.
28:54The ping was at the car rental parking lot,
29:04which is off to my left here I'm going to be turning into.
29:09As I'm traveling through here,
29:11I'm unable to find a vehicle that's matching the description,
29:15so I'm looking for a pedestrian
29:17that might have ditched the car,
29:19and he's, you know, trying to flee the area
29:22or trying to find another vehicle to take.
29:26And as I'm driving through,
29:27I notice a pedestrian that's up by the terminal entrance,
29:31which we're about to pass by.
29:33And it appeared to be an employee that was on a smoke break,
29:36so I was going to go over there
29:38and just ask him
29:38if he had seen anybody matching this subject's description
29:42as well as, you know, a white car
29:45that might have just entered the parking lot
29:46within the last few minutes.
29:50As I was getting ready to speak with that individual,
29:53I noticed over here off to my left
29:55that there was a bus that was getting ready to back out
29:58of the backside of the terminal.
30:01From working with other pings
30:03and how we weren't catching up to any vehicles that matched that,
30:08it just kind of clicked that he might be in that bus.
30:12As they were looking around, that bus started to leave.
30:16I drove around the block,
30:21then I pulled up alongside my partner's vehicle,
30:23and then basically with front of our vehicles
30:25facing head-on to the bus,
30:26we had our emergency lights on,
30:28and we detained the bus.
30:32At that point, we both walked up to the bus.
30:35My partner asked the driver to step off
30:38and take the key out of the ignition
30:40and then shut the door,
30:41and we did that, of course,
30:43in case the suspect happened to be on board.
30:46We didn't want him trying to take control of the bus
30:48or anything like that.
30:51It was a tender situation
30:53because we've got a known murderer on the bus
30:56surrounded by a bunch of innocent people.
31:01We definitely wanted to use extra caution,
31:03and, of course, in the back of my mind,
31:04I was thinking he could take one of these passengers hostage
31:07or he could harm somebody else
31:11in the process of trying to flee from us.
31:13So those were all things we needed to consider.
31:27So right over here,
31:28as you can see, the blue speed limit signs,
31:31it was in those areas
31:32that we had both of our squad cars positioned
31:34to block off the bus.
31:36The bus was actually parked right in this area,
31:38and the passengers disembarked right in this spot.
31:45My partner and I decided
31:46that the best course of action at this point
31:48would be to have everybody on the bus
31:50step down the stairs one at a time
31:52and then have them stand off to the side
31:55in the grassy area,
31:56and then we could clear the entire bus
31:58just to make sure he wasn't there.
32:01There are only about three more passengers
32:03to come down the stairs,
32:05and probably the second-to-last passenger coming down
32:08kind of resembles Mr. Eccles.
32:12So I'm staring at him,
32:13and next thing I know,
32:14he's staring right back at me,
32:15and he's got this nervous look on his face,
32:18and his eyes aren't going anywhere
32:19other than just staring me down
32:22as he's walking down the stairs.
32:23It appears that he's just trying
32:25to hide behind some people.
32:27He starts to turn his body to the side
32:29and show me just his left side,
32:31and he starts looking toward the fence line,
32:33and I'm thinking,
32:34he's getting ready to bolt.
32:35He's going to run from us.
32:37My partner at that point comes over to me,
32:40and I describe the suspect,
32:42and then both of them make eye contact.
32:45At that point, my partner starts screaming at him
32:50to get his hands in the air.
32:52The crowd starts to disperse in both directions,
32:54so now we have a clear shot of this guy.
32:59Nobody on this bus has a clue
33:00that one of their fellow passengers
33:02just killed somebody up in Michigan.
33:05At that point, I drew my weapon
33:06as my partner started rushing over to the suspect
33:09and informed him that he needed to get on his knees
33:12and keep his hands in the air,
33:13and then he took him into custody at that point.
33:19Troopers ask him for his name,
33:21and he just hangs his head,
33:22and he says, I don't have a name.
33:25Police uncover the journey Eccles took
33:31in a bid to evade capture.
33:35While going through his clothing,
33:37the officer stumbled upon a bus ticket.
33:39It was a Greyhound bus ticket,
33:41and it showed that he had actually boarded this bus
33:45in Detroit, Michigan,
33:48taken the bus to a stop in Toledo, Ohio,
33:51and had an ultimate destination of Chicago, Illinois,
33:55while making a brief stop in South Bend, Indiana.
33:58So we had just caught him on this last leg of the trip.
34:03He had been on the bus for nearly seven hours at this point.
34:08Finding and apprehending a suspect
34:10after he's traveled through three states
34:14on the very same day that he's committed a murder,
34:18and within six to seven hours of the finding of the victim
34:24and the processing of the scene is still taking place
34:28is pretty extraordinary.
34:31We were very lucky.
34:34Luck does play a big part in this.
34:37We were looking for a white vehicle.
34:39We very easily could have just bypassed these buses
34:42and went on looking for a white vehicle.
34:47When you are able to close something out like that,
34:51it makes you feel good inside,
34:52like you did something good,
34:54and that you avenged the homicide victim.
35:00A lot of it was luck,
35:02but a lot of it was good police work.
35:05Once we got word that Mr. Echols
35:08had been arrested by the Indiana State Police,
35:10Detective Trooper Adamczyk and I drove down to Indiana.
35:15The way Mr. Echols looked at me
35:17when we interviewed him,
35:20I could tell there was no remorse.
35:23He kind of had that long gaze
35:26where he was staring right through me.
35:28I felt like I was looking evil into the eyes.
35:31Curtis Echols is extradited back to Lansing, Michigan.
35:47Christina's family are notified of his arrest.
35:50Like many people,
35:53they don't believe that something so terrible
35:56can happen in their life.
35:58They trust people,
36:00and they don't believe that that can happen.
36:03He could have gone on and even done worse.
36:06I hope he's ashamed of what he did.
36:09That was just terrible.
36:11She would have been able to see me get married.
36:16She would have been able to see her grandchildren grow up.
36:20She would have...
36:22She would have been good.
36:25Like, all the things that have happened since she's passed,
36:29just thinking about if she was here for that,
36:32how much better it would have been.
36:34Like, it would have been amazing
36:39for her to see all this,
36:41her family growing up.
36:48The case is handed over to prosecutors
36:50who prepare for Echols to stay in trial.
36:53It was not a whodunit.
36:55We had a lot of evidence against Mr. Echols,
36:57but it takes a lot of preparation going into trial
37:01to make sure that we get the conviction.
37:04Because it was a senseless act,
37:08there was nothing to be able to tell the jury
37:09why this happened,
37:11why he did this thing.
37:12And you always worry
37:14that if the jury doesn't understand why it happened,
37:17that they'll have some skepticism
37:18that it did happen.
37:31The trial happened in downtown Lansing
37:33at the 30th Circuit Court.
37:35It started on Monday,
37:36finished the following Monday.
37:40That is something that is hard to get over.
37:45And I got to see what he looked like
37:48because they had me come in
37:50and testify one day in court.
37:53And he sat there with his hand like this,
37:56looking at me.
37:58Echols' demeanor was very cold.
38:01It was very distant throughout the trial.
38:03There was at least one point
38:05where he seemed to get a little bit agitated
38:07and he indicated that he wanted to just plead guilty
38:09and get this all over with.
38:11We took a break to allow him to talk to his attorney about that
38:14and he ultimately changed his mind,
38:15but that was the only time
38:16that he had any real display during the trial.
38:18The defense attorney mounted the best defense that he could
38:23in the circumstances,
38:24pointing to the lack of motivation,
38:27the lack of specific reasons that this would have happened
38:31or pre-existing relationship between the defendant and the victim,
38:34but ultimately was not able to keep any of the evidence out
38:38that so clearly pointed at Curtis Echols.
38:44The jury finds Curtis Jamar Echols guilty of first-degree murder.
38:50He is sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
38:55Mr. Echols was a very violent predator.
38:58He had done similar crimes in the past,
39:01not homicides that we know of,
39:03but abused women
39:04and it was nice to get this conviction
39:08and get him off the street,
39:11not only for all the victims that he's abused in the past,
39:15but especially for Christina's family.
39:19It's a very difficult line that you're walking in these cases,
39:21particularly ones that follow so soon after the death.
39:26There's nothing that you're going to do
39:27that is going to bring their loved one back
39:29and all you can try and do
39:32is get some measure of justice
39:33through a conviction.
39:37I have seen a lot of things in 17 years of doing this job.
39:41This was by far one of the most gruesome scenes I've been to.
39:48It does stay with you.
39:50You can't erase something you see like that from your mind.
39:54Christina did not deserve what had happened to her.
39:58Getting him off the street was a service to society.
40:05This case stands out because of the randomness,
40:08because we don't know why this happened.
40:10I've seen lots of cases where they are gruesome,
40:13maybe as gruesome as this, maybe more,
40:15but at least you know the reason
40:17that this person did this to another person.
40:20And so it is the combination of randomness
40:22and how brutal this was that sets it apart.
40:29She'd had a hard life.
40:31The thing that the judge said at sentencing
40:32is that because Curtis Eccles did this,
40:35she was never going to get a chance to get better.
40:38And that has always stuck with me.
40:40It's just a tragedy.
40:41I never got to tell her goodbye
40:45or that I loved her,
40:50that no matter how much we fought,
40:52no matter how much we would yell at each other,
40:55or if, like, I hate yous
40:57or I never want to see yous anymore
40:58and got thrown around, like, she was my mom.
41:01She's my mom.
41:03And I love her so much,
41:05I will never stop loving her
41:07and wishing she was here.
41:08I will never stop loving her.
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