- 1 day ago
World's Most Evil Killers S05E10 Cesar Barone
Category
🦄
CreativityTranscript
00:00In February 1993, detectives in Hillsborough, Oregon,
00:06were unaware that a serial killer had been active across the city.
00:10The murders of four women were being treated as separate cases
00:14until a prisoner in a local jailhouse began bragging to his fellow inmates.
00:21He would take cones and little miniature bars of soap
00:26and he would place them on the floor to show the respective location
00:30of Martha Bryant's Volkswagen with his Chevrolet.
00:33And he would imitate the sound of Martha Bryant's effort to draw breath.
00:38The loose-lipped convict was 32-year-old Cesar Barone,
00:43who'd been sexually assaulting and murdering women
00:46across Hillsborough for the previous two years.
00:50Margaret was found naked and spread-eagled on her bed.
00:54He didn't just want to kill her, he wanted to degrade her
00:58and demean her and humiliate her.
01:00As detectives began to learn the awful truth behind Cesar Barone's crimes,
01:06they discovered he'd begun attacking women in Florida
01:09when he was just 15 years old.
01:12He is that type of person who has, on the outside,
01:16almost multiple personalities.
01:18I think on the inside, he was just all evil.
01:20Caesar Barone had revealed himself
01:23as one of the world's most evil killers.
01:46In January 1995, 35-year-old Cesar Barone was sentenced to death
01:54for taking the life of four women in and around Hillsborough, Oregon,
01:58ranging in age from 23 to 61.
02:02Barone's M.O. would often change,
02:05from rapist to robber and strangler to shooter,
02:09making him highly elusive to detectives
02:11who couldn't link the crimes.
02:18Journalist Eric Apaletegui met with Barone
02:21while he was on death row in 1997.
02:26We were standing up to go,
02:28and he stuck his hand through that hole to shake my hand.
02:32It totally caught me by surprise,
02:34and I remember thinking, do I shake it?
02:36Because I know that he's strangled people with those hands, right?
02:42It took the skills of dedicated lawyers and detectives
02:47to build a compelling case against Barone
02:50in the lead-up to his 1994 trials.
02:54This case was really the most memorable case
02:58that I ever dealt with,
02:59and it was because of its complexity,
03:03the number of victims,
03:04the lives that impacted,
03:06the trauma that it created for so many people.
03:10Part of what made him so dangerous
03:13was the fact that he broke all the rules
03:16that a profiler would use
03:18in analyzing a certain violent crime.
03:23He killed people he knew.
03:25He killed strangers.
03:28And it's one of the reasons
03:29he got away with this despicable behavior for so long.
03:34This killer's story begins in December 1960.
03:39Cesar Barone was born Adolph James Rodey
03:43in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
03:46Known as Jimmy to friends and family,
03:49his young life got off to a far from perfect start.
03:53At the age of four,
03:55his mother leaves and sets up a new life somewhere else,
03:59and I think this is at the root of a lot of Rodey's issues.
04:05I think there is an unresolved conflict
04:07that happens at that point,
04:09and it continues for him for many years,
04:12because I think, as a four-year-old,
04:14you can't really make sense of why your mother's left.
04:17You probably have a tendency to blame yourself for it.
04:20Was it something that I did?
04:21In March 1967,
04:25Rodey's father got married for a second time.
04:28It was a happier, more affluent household to grow up in.
04:33He led a pretty normal childhood.
04:35His grandparents had a nice home with land
04:40outside of Fort Lauderdale.
04:43They had a pony
04:45that they bought mostly for Caesar and his brother and sister.
04:50He had started approaching his teens.
04:52He really started going downhill
04:54in terms of his behavior.
05:00As an adolescent, Rodey really was a hellraiser.
05:04He broke rules left, right, and center.
05:06He didn't think the rules applied to him.
05:08He was mean to other children.
05:10He didn't really have decent relationships with his peers.
05:14And he caused such havoc
05:16that his stepmother actually ended up leaving the family home.
05:20So that is the level of disruption
05:23that this young man was causing.
05:25This is very serious behavior indeed.
05:28Rodey's conduct spiraled out of control,
05:31and he had a bad reputation with the local authorities.
05:36He was known to police around there
05:39as this kid who was just kind of a bad kid, you know,
05:43who would just steal anything.
05:46He was an opportunist.
05:48Sort of graduated into assaulting people.
05:52And I think he found out that he liked that, honestly.
05:57By 1976, 15-year-old Jimmy Rodey
06:01had developed an unhealthy sexual appetite
06:04for much older women.
06:06And he focused his newfound perversity
06:09on his neighbor, Alice Stock.
06:11Alice was a 70-year-old ex-teacher.
06:15She was a very patient, very calm, very understanding person.
06:19She'd worked with children with special needs,
06:21and she was somebody that Rodey knew.
06:24And he breaks into her house.
06:26He threatens her with a knife,
06:28and he asks her to remove some of her clothing.
06:33And she says, I know who you are.
06:36You're Jimmy Rodey.
06:37You live right down the street.
06:38Now get the hell out of my house.
06:41And he did.
06:42Of course, she instantly called the police.
06:45Jimmy Rodey spent 10 weeks in a youth detention center
06:49as punishment for the attempted attack.
06:52The prolific criminal remained in and out of prison
06:56over the next three years.
06:57All the while, his assault on Alice Stock
07:00remained fresh in his memory.
07:04In 1979, he was released.
07:0615 days later, someone entered her home
07:10by cutting the screen to her window,
07:13entering through the window, strangled Alice Stock,
07:16left her displayed on the bed.
07:20Clearly, he is the prime suspect
07:22because this lady and what she experienced
07:25and what she reported to the police
07:27were what led to him first going to prison.
07:30So he harbored a grudge.
07:32He harbored resentment.
07:33And the fact that he sat on this resentment
07:35for a good couple of years
07:36shows me the kind of person he is.
07:39He is a grievance collector.
07:40And if somebody wrongs him,
07:42he's going to get his own back,
07:44whether that's next week or next year.
07:47All the evidence in the case was circumstantial
07:51and it wasn't enough to charge Rhodey
07:53with Alice's murder.
07:56It's alleged that in January 1980,
08:0018-year-old Rhodey raped his stepmother
08:02and just months later, in April,
08:05he was arrested and charged
08:06with attacking his own grandmother.
08:11She was beaten severely,
08:13so Jimmy Rhodey was charged
08:14with attempted murder.
08:15It went to trial and he was acquitted.
08:19And those involved in the case
08:20said that the grandmother
08:21had trouble testifying.
08:22She didn't want to testify.
08:24And the defense basically was,
08:26she's mistaken.
08:28Jimmy had been there,
08:29but it was somebody,
08:30and it was somebody else.
08:31He was acquitted.
08:33It seemed that mud just wouldn't stick.
08:37Nevertheless, Jimmy Rhodey
08:39was back in prison by August 1980,
08:42sentenced to five years
08:43for the comparatively minor offense
08:46of burglary.
08:47And after assaulting
08:49a 59-year-old female prison officer,
08:52three more years were added
08:53to his sentence,
08:54in which time he began
08:56to completely change his identity.
09:00He moves to a new prison
09:02and he basically starts
09:04to rewrite the story of his life
09:06in the information he gives
09:08to the officers in that prison.
09:10He claims that he has a degree
09:11from an Italian university.
09:13He claims that he's a widower,
09:15that he's going to go back to Italy
09:17after his sentence.
09:18So he's embellishing,
09:20he's exaggerating,
09:21he's making himself more interesting.
09:24And when people do this,
09:26when they engage
09:27in this kind of narcissistic behavior,
09:29it's essentially
09:30because they are fundamentally ashamed
09:32of who they really are.
09:34They don't want to be themselves,
09:35so they invent somebody else to be,
09:38somebody who can lord it over other people
09:41because they're special
09:42and they're interesting.
09:44Rhodey was still prime suspect
09:46for the murder of Alice Stock,
09:48and when he was released in 1987,
09:50he was determined to put distance
09:53between himself and the allegations.
09:55He'd met a woman via a newspaper
09:58Lonely Heart Service
10:00and headed 2,500 miles across the US
10:03to Seattle to be with her.
10:06And he adopted a new name,
10:08Caesar Barone.
10:11The couple married and settled
10:14in Hillsborough, Oregon,
10:15but Barone didn't hang around for long.
10:18In January 1989,
10:21the 28-year-old career criminal
10:23enlisted in the army.
10:27He signs up,
10:28but because he's somebody
10:29who's not very good at following rules,
10:31he doesn't have a particularly smooth time
10:34in the army,
10:35and he is eventually dismissed from the army
10:38when he goes and harasses
10:40an elderly woman in her home
10:42and also when the army discover
10:44that he's in possession of a firearm
10:47and that he's a convicted felon.
10:49So all of this unravels
10:52and his dream of what the army
10:54could potentially have been for him
10:55comes to an end.
10:57By early 1991,
10:59Caesar Barone was back living
11:01in Hillsborough, Oregon.
11:03He decided to return to doing
11:05what he felt he did best,
11:07but this time his passion for crime
11:10would lead to rape,
11:11torture,
11:12and murder.
11:22In the spring of 1991,
11:2530-year-old Caesar Barone
11:27was living with his wife and baby son
11:29in Hillsborough, Oregon.
11:32On April the 19th,
11:34not too far from the Barone family home,
11:37a crime stunned the community.
11:40Margaret Smith was a woman
11:41in her early 60s.
11:43She lived in downtown area
11:45of Hillsborough in a small house.
11:47Margaret had broken her leg,
11:49and because of the leg injury
11:51and some of her health issues,
11:52she used a walker to get around.
11:57Somebody broke into her house.
12:00She was sexually assaulted
12:04and strangled,
12:05and it was one of those cases
12:08as a reporter
12:09that I remember
12:11she was one of those types of people
12:13that everybody would say,
12:14well, why would you kill Margaret Schmidt?
12:18The case landed on the desk
12:20of homicide detective
12:22Michael O'Connell.
12:24She would sit out on her porch
12:26and talk to the kids
12:29from the grade school
12:30right next to her house,
12:32and that's probably how he spotted her,
12:35driving by
12:35and probably saw her
12:37out on her porch.
12:39Margaret's carer
12:41had arrived to check in
12:42on the 61-year-old,
12:44but instead stumbled upon
12:46a horrific crime scene.
12:49Margaret was found naked
12:50and spread-eagled on her bed.
12:54She'd been strangled,
12:55and also it appeared
12:57she'd been smothered
12:58with a pillow.
12:59The pillow was still laying
13:00on her face
13:02when we got there.
13:04There was either a sexual assault
13:06or an attempt
13:07at a sexual assault.
13:10The suspect had knocked over
13:12a bottle of talcum powder
13:13in the bathroom
13:15and left some of the best shoe prints
13:18that I've ever seen
13:19at any crime scene.
13:20You could actually read
13:21the word Reebok.
13:23Maybe you see that a lot on TV,
13:25but in a lot of murder scenes
13:26that I've seen,
13:27you don't typically see footprints
13:29in a residence,
13:30and that led to a significant lead
13:33and really, quite frankly,
13:34was the only lead
13:35after the initial investigation
13:37that the police had
13:39that they thought
13:39they may somehow be able
13:40to, you know, follow up on.
13:43There seemed to be
13:44an obvious way
13:45to solve the case,
13:47find the distinctive shoes,
13:49catch the killer.
13:51I became somewhat obsessed
13:53with them,
13:53and for the next couple years,
13:56I would,
13:57I was always looking for them
13:59to see if I could see
14:00someone wearing them.
14:01I only saw two people
14:03wearing them.
14:04One was a kindergarten teacher
14:06who I knew,
14:07I knew she wasn't the suspect,
14:09and the other one was a fellow
14:11at the, uh, Spokane airport.
14:14But in fact,
14:15the owner of the shoes
14:16lived just two miles away
14:18from Margaret Schmidt's house.
14:21Cesar Barone's lust for older women
14:23had driven him to murder.
14:26In the following months,
14:27the 30-year-old separated
14:29from his wife
14:30and moved out of the family home
14:32before beginning
14:33an ominous new career,
14:36working in an elderly care home.
14:39What could be more frightening
14:41than having someone
14:43who's already killed,
14:44a 61-year-old,
14:45to get a job
14:46as a care home assistant?
14:48Well,
14:50criminal records checks
14:51were not what they are today.
14:53He was plausible enough.
14:55And on the surface,
14:57he presents as unfrightening.
15:00He's quite amenable.
15:02And I can only imagine
15:04that he must have been
15:05literally like
15:07the fox in the hen house.
15:09On the 9th of October, 1992,
15:13Oregon awoke to the news
15:15of another murder.
15:1741-year-old midwife
15:18Martha Bryant
15:19had been targeted
15:20by a gunman
15:21in the early hours
15:23of the morning
15:23while driving along
15:25Cornell Road
15:26in Hillsborough.
15:28I learned about it
15:29early when I got up.
15:30On the morning news,
15:31it was front and center.
15:32They actually had footage
15:34of the Volkswagen
15:35that Martha had been driving
15:37because it remained
15:38alongside where she had
15:39been forced off the road.
15:42It's told a story
15:43that this is an enormous
15:44happening,
15:45that someone would be shot.
15:46You could see the bullet holes,
15:48the mini bullet holes
15:49in the vehicle.
15:51I believe she was probably
15:52working her way
15:53to turn up to Highway 26,
15:56we call it Sunset Highway,
15:57and then on into Portland
15:59where she lived.
16:00But at some point
16:02on Cornell Road,
16:03somebody started shooting
16:05at her car
16:06where one of those bullets
16:07passed through the door
16:09and struck her in the side.
16:11and that caused her
16:13to, you know,
16:15stop the car suddenly,
16:17sort of not in,
16:18not really in full control.
16:21One of the high-caliber bullets
16:23had ripped right through the car
16:25and pierced Martha's left lung.
16:29Several people heard the gunfire
16:31and called 911
16:33because you shouldn't have gunfire
16:35along Cornell Road
16:37at 3 a.m.
16:38In that neighborhood,
16:39you shouldn't have gunfire
16:40anytime.
16:43One of the callers
16:44actually looked out
16:45her bathroom window
16:46and saw
16:47Martha Bryant's Volkswagen
16:49and she heard yelling
16:50and she thought
16:52it was two males.
16:53But you have to remember,
16:55Martha Bryant had suffered
16:56a sucking chest wound.
16:59The assailant abducted
17:01the gravely injured Martha
17:03from her abandoned vehicle
17:04and drove her
17:06to a quieter location.
17:08When she couldn't do
17:09what he wanted,
17:10he drug her out of the car,
17:12put a .22 caliber revolver
17:15to her temple
17:16and executed her,
17:18left her in the middle
17:19of the road
17:20with her pants
17:21down at her ankles.
17:24Martha Bryant was found
17:27a short time later,
17:28about
17:30three-quarters of a mile away
17:34laying in the middle
17:35of a side street
17:36and she'd been
17:39sexually assaulted.
17:42It is premeditated,
17:44it is excessive cruelty
17:47once again
17:47and a complete disregard
17:49for human life
17:50of how anyone else
17:51might feel.
17:52It is a psychopathic behavior
17:54of the most clear-cut kind.
17:56The seemingly random killing
17:59of a local midwife
18:00left the city in shock.
18:04It captured the attention
18:06of the community
18:07in a very powerful way.
18:09You just don't have
18:10that kind of crime
18:11out here in Hillsborough.
18:13You really don't have
18:14that kind of crime
18:15very often anywhere.
18:19We knew very quickly
18:21that Martha Bryant
18:22was a nurse midwife,
18:23that she had just
18:25helped deliver a baby
18:26at Quality Community Hospital.
18:29That fact alone,
18:32that she had just helped
18:33bring a new life
18:34into the world
18:35and then her life
18:38was so suddenly
18:39and violently taken,
18:41the way those two things
18:42came together,
18:43I think, just grabbed everybody.
18:45It was just one
18:46of those things
18:47where you just see
18:49the best and the worst
18:50of life, you know,
18:52and just minutes apart.
18:56Cornell Road residents
18:58had seen Martha's killer
18:59abduct her,
19:00but because it was so dark,
19:03detectives were left
19:04with little to go on.
19:06Police started
19:07to put together
19:08a picture of what happened
19:09from the evidence
19:10that the witnesses gave them.
19:12So they'd seen
19:13a white muscle car
19:14a souped-up vehicle.
19:17They'd seen a man
19:18who was around
19:19about six foot tall
19:20with dark brown hair
19:21going away from the scene.
19:23So they had little pieces
19:25of the puzzle
19:26to put together.
19:28What the police didn't know
19:30was that Martha's killer
19:31was Cesar Barone.
19:33In a complete change
19:34of his regular M.O.,
19:36the 30-year-old
19:37had struck for a second time
19:39and just two months later,
19:41he would claim
19:42a third victim.
19:44On the 30th of December, 1992,
19:48Detective Scott Ryan
19:49was alerted
19:50to the discovery
19:51of a body
19:52along U.S. Highway 26
19:54near Varnonia, Oregon.
19:58We got up there
19:59and the body
20:00had been there
20:01for some time.
20:02We weren't sure
20:03if this was somebody
20:04that was struck
20:05by a vehicle
20:06or dumped a body
20:08or what immediately.
20:11But after a period of time,
20:13I located a gunshot
20:14to the underside
20:15of her chin.
20:16And at that point,
20:18it was beyond suspect
20:20that this was a homicide.
20:22It would take
20:23some expert detective work
20:25just to identify the victim,
20:28let alone solve the crime.
20:30When we first went
20:32through the victim's pockets,
20:34we had very little information
20:36as far as who she was.
20:39After doing some light work
20:40on a phone number
20:41and address,
20:42we were able to track down
20:44a house in southeast Portland,
20:46I believe it was,
20:47and found out
20:49she was a roommate
20:51and had taken a room
20:53in a house there
20:54and were able to locate
20:56information in that room
20:58as to her actual identity.
21:0123-year-old Shanty Woodman
21:04had last been seen
21:05the previous night
21:07looking for a ride home
21:08outside a nightclub
21:10in Portland.
21:11Shanty was probably
21:13what one would refer to
21:15as a traveler.
21:17She followed the music scene
21:19throughout California
21:21and the northwest,
21:22and I believe this was probably
21:24one of her first visits
21:26into the Portland area.
21:29Once again,
21:30detectives had few leads
21:32to follow.
21:33They had no idea
21:34that Shanty Woodman
21:36had become the third victim
21:38of Caesar Barone,
21:39but this time,
21:40he had an accomplice.
21:42Leonard Darcel,
21:44known by his nickname,
21:45Germ,
21:46worked with Barone
21:47in a nursing home
21:48and was seven years younger
21:50than the 31-year-old killer.
21:53I think he was somebody
21:54who was seen
21:54as a bit of an outcast,
21:55so I think Barone thought
21:57that here's somebody
21:58that I can manipulate,
22:00here's somebody
22:00who's going to be
22:01really impressed by me.
22:03He was the type of guy
22:05who would look up
22:06to someone like Caesar Barone,
22:08who would admire
22:09someone like Caesar Barone,
22:10and I think Caesar Barone
22:12liked to have
22:13someone like that around.
22:16I think he got
22:17a kick out of that.
22:18I don't think
22:19that Leonard Darcel
22:20necessarily signed up
22:21to be a wingman
22:23in a murder,
22:24but he was no Boy Scout.
22:27Barone and Darcel
22:28had picked up Shanty Woodman
22:30outside a nightclub
22:32in Portland,
22:33and just hours later,
22:35Barone executed her
22:37in front of his younger colleague.
22:40She begs for her life.
22:42She's absolutely terrified
22:43at this point in time,
22:45but Barone,
22:46this is not a barrier for him.
22:48This is now a performance
22:49because Leonard Darcel
22:51is there watching this unfold,
22:53and he wants this
22:55to be as performative,
22:56as dramatic as possible.
22:59And then finally,
23:01in an act of such barbarism,
23:03it almost takes your breath away,
23:05Barone puts the gun
23:06not to a temple,
23:07but underneath her chin.
23:10And blows her head off,
23:12effectively killing her
23:13in an instant.
23:14Caesar Barone was out of control.
23:18He'd now killed three women
23:19in completely unrelated circumstances.
23:23The police had a serial killer
23:25in their midst,
23:26but they had no idea.
23:28Detectives needed to catch a break
23:30before Barone claimed
23:32another innocent victim.
23:41By January 1993,
23:45police were unaware
23:46that an active serial killer
23:48was responsible for three murders
23:50in and around Hillsborough
23:52in Oregon.
23:53The differing MOs
23:55and varying ages
23:56of the victims
23:57appeared too random
23:59to be linked
23:59by detectives.
24:01We didn't think
24:02that the Woodman murder,
24:03the Bryant murder,
24:04or the Schmidt murder
24:05were connected.
24:06They were all very different.
24:08You have an elderly woman
24:09killed in her home.
24:10You have a 23-year-old
24:12left along the side
24:13of the highway
24:14in a rural part of the county.
24:16And then you have
24:17the nurse midwife
24:18shot in her car
24:19and then kidnapped
24:20and ultimately executed.
24:23We didn't think
24:24they were connected.
24:25The killer of all three women
24:28was Caesar Barone.
24:30Despite his violent
24:32and sometimes public attacks,
24:34the 32-year-old care home worker
24:36had managed to fly
24:38under the radar.
24:39This is a really mixed
24:41kind of victimology,
24:43but we've got to remember
24:45all of these victims
24:46are women.
24:47It's all being driven
24:48by a misogynistic ideology
24:50and a value set.
24:52So I think the police
24:53would have struggled
24:54in the early days
24:55because of that disparity
24:56of the victims,
24:57but that the nature
24:59of the murders
25:00was quite similar.
25:01So there were pieces
25:03of the puzzle
25:03that would eventually
25:04come together.
25:05In January 1993,
25:08Barone attended
25:09a small party
25:11hosted by 51-year-old waitress
25:13Betty Williams,
25:14who lived in the same
25:16apartment block
25:17as Barone's girlfriend
25:18in Cornelius.
25:20The following morning,
25:22Betty was found dead.
25:25She was discovered
25:26by one of her sons,
25:28came over to her house,
25:29found the front door unlocked,
25:31which, again, was unusual,
25:33came in looking for his mom
25:35and found her in the bathtub
25:37with a couple of inches
25:39of water in it.
25:40She was kind of laying half in
25:42and kind of half out
25:43of the bathtub.
25:44Her clothing was down
25:45to her ankles,
25:46and she was clearly dead.
25:48There was nothing
25:50at the crime scene
25:51that would immediately
25:52suggest foul play.
25:55They thought that she had
25:56been sitting on the toilet
25:57and had a heart attack,
25:58and then in her movements
26:00had, you know,
26:01fallen into the bathtub.
26:04Two items found
26:06in Betty's apartment
26:07meant detectives would keep
26:09an open mind
26:10about her death.
26:11There was a broken
26:13jar of change found.
26:15There was a gun there.
26:17We thought it was her gun,
26:19and when we asked her sons,
26:21they said,
26:22yeah, it might be.
26:23But then her autopsy
26:24determined it was
26:25a heart attack.
26:26And then as things progressed,
26:29it turned out
26:30that she did die
26:31of a heart attack,
26:31but she died of a heart attack
26:33because he was threatening
26:34her with a knife
26:36and that gun,
26:38that .22 Magnum.
26:40So, in effect,
26:42this is an oversimplification,
26:43but it's basically
26:45what happened was
26:46he scared her to death.
26:48It was impossible
26:49for the police
26:50to link the cases
26:52but Betty Williams
26:53had, in fact,
26:54become the fourth victim
26:56of Caesar Barone.
26:58The following month
26:59in February 1993,
27:02Barone's ex-mother-in-law
27:04was found dead
27:05in her home.
27:06It was a death
27:07that would inadvertently
27:09lead to the killer's downfall.
27:11At the time,
27:13the death was considered
27:14natural causes.
27:16I believe they thought
27:17it likely was a heart attack.
27:20It would come to light
27:21that Caesar Barone
27:23was using her ITM card
27:26after the death.
27:27The family filed a complaint
27:30that Barone was responsible
27:31for the theft of $3,000,
27:34and a police investigation began.
27:37While looking into Barone's past,
27:40detectives discovered
27:41a colorful criminal history,
27:43including attacks
27:44on 70-year-old Alice Stock
27:46and his own grandmother.
27:49There were some issues coming up
27:51that just didn't make sense.
27:53Caesar Barone appeared
27:54to come out of nowhere,
27:57and in further checking,
27:58he found there had been
27:59a name change.
28:01Caesar Barone was actually
28:03a fictitious name,
28:05an assumed name later on,
28:07that Barone's real name
28:09was Jimmy Rohde.
28:10As the investigation
28:11into the stolen money continued,
28:14Barone remained a free man.
28:16He'd killed four women
28:18without any repercussions,
28:21and the rate of his assaults
28:23began to escalate.
28:25There are a couple of sexual attacks
28:28that he carries out
28:29on two older women.
28:31He goes to their houses,
28:32he asks them
28:33if he can use their phone,
28:35because he's having
28:36some car problems.
28:37In one of these instances,
28:39he goes in and demands
28:40that the woman gives him oral sex,
28:42and she refuses,
28:44and he flees.
28:45In another one
28:46of these incidences,
28:47the victim sets off
28:49her personal alarm,
28:50which really spooks him,
28:52so he flees again.
28:53And I think at this point in time,
28:55he's feeling really frustrated,
28:56because he has a right
28:57to demand these things
28:59that he's asking for,
29:00and he's not getting them.
29:02One of the victims,
29:04a neighbor of Barone,
29:05he identified the 32-year-old
29:08and reported him
29:09to the police.
29:10Investigators didn't know it,
29:12but they were about
29:13to capture a serial killer.
29:16Barone was promptly
29:17put behind bars.
29:19It was only then
29:20that the truth
29:21about his career of murder
29:22came to the fore.
29:25In prison,
29:26Barone is still
29:27very much the narcissist
29:29that he was on the outside.
29:30He wants attention,
29:32he wants recognition,
29:33he wants validation.
29:34So he starts showing off.
29:36He starts bragging
29:37to his fellow prisoners
29:38about the crimes
29:39that he's committed,
29:40about the murders
29:41of elderly women,
29:43about the assaults on women,
29:45and they are horrified
29:47at what they've heard,
29:48and they basically want
29:51to share that information.
29:53Barone bragged
29:54about the killing
29:55of 41-year-old midwife
29:57Martha Bryant.
29:59When he would describe
30:00what he did
30:01to these other inmates,
30:02he would take cones
30:04and little miniature bars
30:06of soap
30:07that they were issued
30:08in the jail,
30:08and he would place them
30:09on the floor
30:10to show the respective
30:12location of Martha Bryant's
30:14Volkswagen
30:14with his Chevrolet.
30:16And he would imitate
30:17the sound of Martha Bryant's
30:20effort to draw a breath.
30:23Barone had sold
30:25his two-door Chevrolet
30:26soon after Martha's murder,
30:29but detectives managed
30:30to track it down.
30:32I remember Susan Horman,
30:34one of the criminalists
30:35from the state police
30:37crime lab,
30:37coming out
30:38to our evidence facility.
30:41And she looks at the car.
30:43She points to a spot
30:44in the back seat.
30:46She says,
30:47someone has scrubbed
30:48that spot harder
30:49than the rest of the car.
30:51And we're going,
30:52OK, if you say so.
30:54She slices open the seat.
30:56The cushion is soaked
30:59with dried blood,
31:01which was Martha Bryant's.
31:04That blood evidence
31:05was from when he had placed
31:07her in the back
31:07of his car.
31:09Another murder
31:10that Barone talked about
31:12while in jail
31:13was that of 23-year-old
31:15Shanti Woodman.
31:16We had information
31:18from the inmates
31:19in the jail
31:20that Barone had described
31:23Woodman's attack
31:24and murder.
31:25And he stated
31:27that during that incident,
31:28he had a subject
31:30by the name of Germ
31:31accompanying him.
31:32We had no further
31:33information to go on,
31:34and we started calling in
31:35on different police resources
31:37and located an AKA
31:39of Germ
31:40as being Leonard Darcel,
31:42who, surprisingly,
31:44was a Cornelius resident
31:45and lived not far
31:46from where
31:47Cesar Barone had lived.
31:50Detectives paid a visit
31:51to Leonard Darcel
31:52to hear his side
31:54of the story.
31:55We told Leonard
31:57that we had some information
31:59that we needed
32:00to share with him,
32:01and that information
32:02regarded Cesar Barone.
32:05At the point of hearing
32:08Cesar Barone's name,
32:10there was a huge transformation.
32:13Leonard Darcel's face
32:15turned white as a sheet.
32:17He tried about three times
32:19to speak.
32:19He couldn't.
32:20As he finally started
32:22to speak,
32:23he looked at us
32:24and said,
32:25what I'm about to tell you
32:27is probably going to change
32:28the rest of my life.
32:31Darcel began to confess
32:33about what had happened
32:34on the 30th of December, 1992.
32:37He told detectives
32:39that he and Barone
32:40had picked up Shanti
32:42and took her
32:43to an apartment
32:43in Cornelius.
32:45He said he had consensual sex
32:48with the 23-year-old,
32:49but when she rejected
32:51Barone's advances,
32:52he forced her to get
32:53into his car
32:54and pointed a gun at her.
32:57Darcel went along
32:58for the ride.
33:00Ultimately,
33:01she ended up
33:02out on Highway 26,
33:03and he told us
33:05it was Barone
33:06that had got her
33:07out of the car
33:09and taunted her
33:10and tormented her
33:12while she was standing
33:12there on the shoulder
33:13of the road.
33:14He said she was crying,
33:16she was sobbing,
33:18and he stroked her hair
33:20and told her
33:21everything was going
33:21to be okay,
33:22everything was going
33:23to be fine,
33:24don't worry.
33:25And at that point,
33:26he moved the gun
33:27from where he had been
33:30popping it
33:30into the bottom
33:32of her chin,
33:33then turned it
33:34and came underneath
33:35and said,
33:36everything's going
33:37to be okay,
33:37and the gun fired
33:39and she collapsed.
33:43Darcel could not believe
33:45what he had witnessed.
33:47He said that was
33:48at the point
33:49that Cesar Barone
33:49grabbed her by the legs
33:51and spun her around
33:52and threw her off
33:53into the shoulder,
33:54and they then got
33:55into the car
33:56and left the scene,
33:58and it was at that point
34:00that Cesar Barone
34:01wanted to high-five him.
34:02He was pounding the wheel.
34:04He was euphoric.
34:05He was just totally excited
34:08about how good that felt.
34:11Leonard stated
34:12it nearly made him sick
34:13at that point,
34:14and he knew that
34:15he didn't want anything
34:16more to do
34:17with this individual.
34:20In March 1994,
34:22for his role
34:23in Shanti Woodman's murder,
34:25Leonard Darcel
34:26was sentenced
34:27to 20 years in prison.
34:31During his jailhouse confessions,
34:34Barone had spoken
34:35to fellow inmates
34:36about how,
34:37in January 1993,
34:39he'd scared Betty Williams
34:41so much
34:42she suffered a heart attack.
34:44The gun that had been found
34:46at her apartment
34:46was the same one
34:48that fired the shot
34:49that killed Shanti Woodman,
34:51a direct link
34:53between both deaths.
34:55Searches of Barone's home
34:57uncovered even more evidence
34:59against him.
35:00There was another gun
35:01found in the search warrant
35:03of Cesar Barone's house.
35:04It was a Browning High Power.
35:07When that gun
35:09was matched with forensics,
35:11that tied back
35:12into the Martha Bryant case.
35:15The shell casings
35:16found on Cornell Road
35:17were consistent
35:18with the strike remarks
35:19that this Browning High Power made.
35:22And the search
35:24of one of Barone's
35:25former residences
35:26led Detective Michael O'Connell
35:29to discover something
35:30he'd been searching for
35:31for almost two years.
35:34During the service
35:35of that search warrant,
35:36what do we find
35:38in Cesar's property?
35:40A pair of size 8 1⁄2 or 9
35:43Reebok ERS tennis shoes.
35:46Ultimately,
35:47the shoes were matched
35:48to the shoe prints
35:49in Margaret Schmidt's bathroom,
35:51including the little nicks,
35:54the little artifacts.
35:56You could look
35:56at the bottom of the shoe
35:57and see it,
35:58and you could look
35:58at the picture
35:59of the shoe print
36:00and see it.
36:03As well as evidence
36:05linking Barone to four deaths,
36:07detectives had uncovered
36:08a series of other crimes
36:10he'd committed,
36:11including rape,
36:12sexual abuse,
36:13and theft.
36:14In February 1994,
36:17he faced trial
36:18for crimes
36:18against the surviving victims
36:20and was sentenced
36:21to 44 years in prison.
36:25The career criminal
36:26was behind bars,
36:28but detectives weren't going
36:29to rest on their laurels.
36:32Cesar Barone was about
36:33to get his comeuppance
36:35for the lives
36:36he'd cruelly taken.
36:46In late 1995,
36:49Cesar Barone was just
36:51nine months
36:52into a 44-year sentence
36:54for a series
36:55of sexual assaults
36:56and burglaries
36:57in Oregon.
36:59In November,
37:00the 34-year-old
37:01was back in court,
37:03this time charged
37:04with the high-profile murder
37:05of an innocent midwife.
37:09The Martha Bryant murder
37:11was such a big deal
37:12because people really cared
37:14about that case
37:15and they really wanted
37:16to see Cesar Barone put away.
37:18And it was a capital murder case,
37:21so he was facing
37:23a potential death penalty.
37:26Barone was prosecuted
37:27by Chief Deputy DA
37:29Bob Herman.
37:31I told the jury
37:32that this was clearly
37:34an execution,
37:35both by the nature
37:36of the gunshot wound
37:37of the temple
37:38and he clearly displayed
37:39the body
37:40by dumping her
37:41in the middle of the road
37:42in the manner
37:42that he did.
37:43It was obvious
37:45that his conduct
37:45was deliberate,
37:47which under our law
37:49in Oregon
37:49is significant
37:51when it comes
37:51to a death penalty imposition,
37:53the homicide
37:53need not be
37:54just intentional,
37:55it has to be deliberate
37:57as well
37:57and that was about
37:58as deliberative
37:59as you could
38:00possibly imagine.
38:03Barone denied
38:04all the charges
38:05against him,
38:06pleading not guilty
38:08and refusing to testify.
38:10But the evidence
38:11against him
38:12was undeniable.
38:14In terms of Martha Bryant's
38:16murder trial,
38:17there really wasn't
38:17any doubt
38:18that Barone
38:19had killed her.
38:20He'd bragged about it,
38:22he'd actually shared
38:23details of the crime
38:24with others.
38:26There was a bloodstain
38:27in the back
38:28of the muscle car
38:29that matched up
38:30to her DNA
38:31and also the 9mm pistol
38:33that he'd used
38:34in this case
38:35was found
38:36in his own residence.
38:37So all parts
38:39led to Barone.
38:40There was very little doubt
38:42he was responsible
38:43for this.
38:44I think the evidence
38:46that maybe
38:46is more emotional
38:48as the stuff
38:48that kind of gets me now
38:50is just
38:50the descriptions
38:51of how he basically
38:52hunted her down
38:53and killed her.
38:55You know,
38:56those were the things
38:57that, you know,
38:58anybody could kind
38:59of understand.
39:00We've all seen movies
39:01and everything,
39:02but, you know,
39:04here it was real life
39:05and close to home
39:06and all of that.
39:08So that's the kind
39:09of stuff that probably
39:09sticks with me more.
39:15In December 1994,
39:18Cesar Barone
39:19was found guilty
39:20of the murder
39:20of Martha Bryant
39:22and sentenced to death.
39:23He received
39:24two more death sentences
39:26for the murders
39:27of Margaret Schmidt
39:28and Shanty Woodman.
39:30Barone was also convicted
39:32of causing
39:33Betty Williams' death,
39:35known in Oregon
39:35as felony murder.
39:38For this,
39:38he received
39:39an 89-year sentence.
39:42The state of Florida
39:43were also keen
39:44to speak to the man
39:45they knew
39:46as Jimmy Rohde.
39:48They eventually
39:49indicted him
39:50for the murder
39:51of Alice Stock.
39:52After his appeals
39:53were all denied
39:54on the Martha Bryant case,
39:56they ended up
39:57dismissing their case
39:59under the belief
40:00that, okay,
40:01he's,
40:02at the very least,
40:04he's gonna spend
40:05the rest of his life
40:06in prison in Oregon
40:07and possibly even
40:09be executed.
40:10They decided
40:10to drop their case.
40:13There is no such thing
40:14as coincidence
40:15when it comes
40:16to serial killers,
40:17and I think
40:18it's safe to say
40:20that,
40:21is anybody else
40:22responsible
40:23for Alice's murder?
40:24I'd say probably not.
40:28In 1997,
40:30journalist Erica Palettegi
40:32was given
40:33the opportunity
40:34to sit down
40:35with Cesar Barone
40:36to try and find out
40:38his side
40:38of the story.
40:40I had never
40:41interviewed someone
40:42on death row.
40:43So that day
40:45when I went
40:46down to Salem,
40:47Oregon State Penitentiary,
40:49I was admittedly anxious.
40:51I didn't know
40:52what it would be like.
40:53And then they brought me
40:55into a little interview room,
40:59and there was
41:00a chair
41:02and a little
41:03kind of desk
41:04in front of me,
41:05and then there was
41:06this big,
41:07thick plate glass
41:09with a hole right here
41:11that we were
41:11going to talk through.
41:12Gary brought
41:13Cesar Barone in
41:14to the other side
41:15of this,
41:16sat him down,
41:18and they kind of
41:19gave us space
41:19to talk.
41:22And he was
41:24very amiable,
41:27like, happy
41:28to see me,
41:29you know,
41:29how you doing,
41:30kind of thing.
41:32But Barone's mood
41:34would soon change
41:35when Eric brought
41:36up the murders.
41:38The Bryant case,
41:40me sitting there,
41:42that looks like
41:42the one that they
41:43have the most evidence
41:44on.
41:44They tell our juries
41:46to use common sense
41:47when evaluating evidence.
41:55What about the bullet
41:56evidence in that case?
42:01Whenever I asked
42:02a question that didn't
42:03fit with his
42:04explanation of things,
42:05you know,
42:06what about the DNA
42:08evidence?
42:08What about this?
42:09What about that?
42:10You know,
42:11if he couldn't come up
42:12with a good answer,
42:13then his answer was
42:14that it was planted
42:15so that he could be
42:17convicted of all
42:18these crimes.
42:19They could clear
42:19the books of these
42:20crimes.
42:21They could get
42:21all the glory.
42:22You know,
42:23that was his,
42:25that was his argument.
42:29Caesar Barone died
42:31of cancer on Christmas
42:32Eve 2009.
42:34He was 49 years old.
42:37On discovering the killer
42:39was terminally ill,
42:40Detective Michael O'Connell
42:42visited him in prison
42:43for one last attempt
42:45finding out the truth
42:46behind his crimes.
42:49I said,
42:50I'm not going to read
42:51you your rights.
42:52Basically,
42:52I was trying to assure him
42:55that I couldn't use
42:56anything he was going
42:58to tell me against him.
42:59Still didn't matter.
43:01He just,
43:01no,
43:02no.
43:03I said,
43:04is it possible to tell us
43:05that maybe one of your
43:06victims didn't suffer?
43:09I said,
43:10you know,
43:10something that maybe
43:11could put a mother
43:13or husband at ease,
43:16give him some peace of mind,
43:18wouldn't,
43:19wouldn't touch it,
43:20wouldn't even come close.
43:23As far as Caesar Barone
43:25having any remorse
43:26for his crimes,
43:28absolutely not.
43:29It was my impression
43:31that he loved revisiting
43:33those mentally
43:36and recommitting
43:37the crime again.
43:38Truly a sick,
43:40evil individual.
43:42In total,
43:43Caesar Barone
43:44was responsible
43:45for the deaths
43:46of at least four women
43:48and the assault
43:49of many others.
43:50He has taken
43:51the reasons why
43:52to the grave.
43:55When we look back
43:56on the victims
43:58of Barone's crimes,
43:59these were women
44:00just going about
44:01their daily life
44:02and this predator
44:04comes along
44:04and decides
44:05that he has a right
44:06to kill them,
44:07he has a right
44:07to violate
44:08and abuse them
44:09and I think
44:10what we need
44:11to take from this case
44:12is their memory
44:13because very often
44:14the victims
44:15in cases of serial murder
44:17symbolize everything
44:18that the perpetrators
44:19are not.
44:20They are independent,
44:21they are loved,
44:22they are hopeful,
44:24they're people
44:24who have bright futures
44:25ahead of them.
44:26So I think
44:27we need to honor
44:28the victims
44:28and just forget
44:29about Barone
44:30because he was a nobody
44:31and he always
44:32will be a nobody.
44:34Barone was a twisted
44:36individual
44:37who seemed to enjoy
44:38causing pain to women.
44:40He was driven
44:41by an unhealthy
44:42sexual appetite
44:43that would stop
44:44at nothing.
44:46By attacking women
44:47in their homes,
44:48their cars
44:49or even on the street,
44:51he always preyed
44:53upon their vulnerabilities,
44:55which makes
44:55Caesar Barone
44:56one of the world's
44:58most evil killers.
45:25We'll see you next time.