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World's Most Evil Killers S06E01 John Allen & Lee Malvo
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00:02October 3rd, 2002, Montgomery County, Maryland.
00:087.41 a.m., 39-year-old landscape gardener James Sonny Buchanan
00:14was cutting grass outside Fitzgerald Auto Malls on Rockville Pike.
00:19A single shot pierced the air,
00:23and Sonny fell to the ground.
00:26They just killed a man, and it's a game to them.
00:30Right.
00:318.12 a.m., cab driver Prem Kumar Wallachar.
00:35Petrol station Aspen Hill.
00:37A single bullet ripped through his body.
00:40911, you're hurt, see? He's bleeding real bad.
00:43Just ordinary folks like you and I going about our daily business.
00:478.37 a.m., 34-year-old Sarah Ramos shot dead,
00:52sitting on a bench at Leisure World Shopping Centre.
00:57How do you do, Amber?
00:58All right.
00:58It could have been anyone.
01:00Anyone who's... can pull the trigger.
01:039.58 a.m., Lolly and Luis Rivera vacuuming her car
01:08at a petrol station in Kensington.
01:11These are men who are high on killing,
01:13high on shooting innocent people.
01:182120, 72-year-old Pascal Charlo,
01:21out walking in Washington, D.C.
01:23He was dead within the hour.
01:27And if there was one single day that transformed the nation's capital
01:32and sent a shiver down its spine,
01:35it was October 3, 2002.
01:38This was only the beginning of a three-week reign of terror,
01:42executed with deadly precision by John Alan Muhammad
01:46and Lee Boyd-Malvo,
01:49two of the world's most evil killers.
02:12October 2, 2000, Caribbean island of Antigua.
02:16After the breakdown of his second marriage,
02:2040-year-old John Alan Muhammad kidnapped three of his young children
02:24and fled to the island of Antigua,
02:27where he met 14-year-old Lee Boyd-Malvo.
02:32Lee Boyd was very smart in school.
02:35He was a good kid.
02:36He enjoyed sports.
02:37He was a normal, average, everyday boy
02:40being raised by a single mother.
02:43Muhammad looks at Malvo and sees a young man
02:45who hasn't got a father figure,
02:47who doesn't really have an authority figure in his life at all.
02:51So that's the role that he can step into
02:53and he can start pulling his strings.
02:55When Muhammad left Antigua, Malvo followed him.
02:59And once Malvo got across
03:01and was on the mainland of the United States,
03:03he reached out to Muhammad and wanted to come be with him.
03:07By September 2001,
03:10John Muhammad's life was crumbling around him.
03:13He had two failed marriages
03:15and had lost custody of his children.
03:18Lee Boyd-Malvo was all he had left.
03:22I think Malvo was desperate to find a father figure.
03:26I think he would have done anything
03:28that Muhammad suggested.
03:29He was completely under Muhammad's spell.
03:32But it wasn't that one was senior to the other.
03:37Malvo may have been younger,
03:38but he was every bit as determined to kill
03:41and to impress his father figure.
03:44The pair went on a nine-month rampage
03:48across the United States,
03:50robbing and killing at random
03:52before executing their plan
03:54in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.
03:57Killing 17 people and leaving 13 injured.
04:02Do I believe my father's a serial killer?
04:04Yes, I believe John Muhammad committed the crimes
04:08that he was accused of.
04:15These killer stories begin in 1960.
04:20John Allen Muhammad was born John Allen Williams
04:23on December 31st in New Orleans, Louisiana.
04:27His mother died of breast cancer
04:30when he was very young, around three years old.
04:32And he was sent to Baton Rouge to live with his aunts
04:36because his father just left.
04:38His aunts had several children,
04:41and John and his two brothers and two sisters
04:45were raised by them in Baton Rouge.
04:47John Muhammad's family was expected
04:49to do all of the chores in the home.
04:52So John grew up feeling pretty inadequate
04:57from a very young age.
04:59In 1978, Williams graduated
05:02from Scotlandville High School at the age of 17.
05:07He joins the Louisiana National Guard.
05:10Gives him a kind of rank status, a bit of authority,
05:14which in many ways appeals to him.
05:15He is a man who likes to fit into hierarchies,
05:20at least in his early years.
05:22At the age of 20, John Williams fell in love
05:25with a girl called Carol, and they married in 1981,
05:29welcoming their son Lindbergh into the world
05:32the following year.
05:34What kind of man was my father?
05:36My father was a very stern man,
05:39a very, very confident man.
05:43He was in the military.
05:46He was the type of person, if he said something,
05:49you can bet that he was going to do
05:51whatever it takes to get that done.
05:54After a few years, though,
05:57Carol started hearing rumors
05:59that John was seeing another woman.
06:03And at one point,
06:05she went and knocked on this woman's door,
06:07who lived in the same neighborhood they did,
06:09and saw John sitting on the couch
06:12and realized that her husband was cheating on her.
06:15John's new girlfriend was Mildred.
06:18His wife, Carol, made the decision
06:20to separate from her husband
06:22and took their son Lindbergh with her.
06:25In 1985, he decides,
06:27when his first marriage is collapsing,
06:29that he's going to convert to Islam.
06:31And I think this means a great deal to him.
06:34And a couple of years later,
06:36he joins the Nation of Islam,
06:38run by Louis Farrakhan.
06:40For him, Islam was very significant.
06:43After facing disciplinary action,
06:46John Allen Williams left the Louisiana National Guard
06:50and in 1985, at the age of 25,
06:54enlisted in the U.S. Army.
06:56In the same year, he was divorced from Carol
06:59and moved in with Mildred, marrying in 1988.
07:03Two years later, he was deployed to the Persian Gulf.
07:08Williams thrived in the army,
07:10gaining the highest level of expert M-16 markmanship
07:14and was decorated for his service.
07:17So you have this period of calm in Williams' life,
07:22based in the U.S. Army,
07:24and it's as if he's hanging on to the army
07:30as his identity.
07:32That is what makes John Williams work.
07:37And for a long time, he really remains quite stable.
07:41He isn't rushing off.
07:43He's not... I think he likes the uniform.
07:45I think he likes the identity.
07:46And I think he feels that,
07:49Oh, I'm... I mean something now.
07:53I am... I amount to something.
07:55On April 26, 1994, at the age of 33,
08:00Williams was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army.
08:04He was now living in Tacoma, Washington State,
08:07with Mildred and their three children.
08:11He starts a couple of businesses,
08:14neither of which really work, and they fall apart.
08:18And his marriage to Mildred
08:21isn't going terrifically well either.
08:23They fought a lot,
08:25and John was abusive to her on numerous occasions.
08:29And there, their relationship really went downhill.
08:34He loved his children.
08:37Children were a very big part
08:39of what he felt like his role in life was.
08:43And so he tried to be a good father to them,
08:46and they did have a close relationship.
08:51My mother raised me most of my life.
08:53Me and my father spent a lot of time
08:54talking over the phone.
08:56And then we had our summers
08:57to where we would meet up with each other.
09:00So when I was younger,
09:01we went to Washington for a summer.
09:04Then my sixth grade year,
09:06going to seventh grade,
09:07I went to Washington
09:08and spent a summer with him.
09:10On one summer visit with his father,
09:13Williams called his ex-wife Carol
09:15and told her that Lindbergh wasn't returning home.
09:18Carol ended up having to get a court order
09:22to get Lindbergh back to Louisiana,
09:25and it took that whole summer.
09:27During that period,
09:30John tried to brainwash Lindbergh.
09:32It was just one of those summers
09:34that, um, I went down there
09:36and he was telling me things
09:39that at that moment
09:40that I felt that he knew I wanted to hear
09:43to keep me away from my mother
09:46and keep me from going home.
09:49In September 1999,
09:53John Allen Williams' second marriage to Mildred
09:56was falling apart
09:57and the couple separated.
09:59Three months later,
10:01Mildred filed for divorce
10:03and custody of their three children.
10:06That is a very big blow
10:09to Williams and to his psyche.
10:12You've already had this slightly frail psyche
10:15looking for identity.
10:16He took some identity
10:18from being married with three children.
10:20He took some identity
10:21from having been in the army.
10:23But now he really is, in a sense, cut loose.
10:28He is on his own
10:30and he doesn't know what to do.
10:33So if there is a trigger
10:35to the events that were to follow,
10:37it is that divorce
10:39because then Mildred applies
10:41for a restraining order,
10:43making sure that Williams,
10:45to become John Mohamed,
10:47cannot have any contact with her
10:49or with their children.
10:51After receiving the restraining order,
10:54Williams kidnapped his three children
10:56and fled to the Caribbean island of Antigua,
10:59where an unlikely friendship
11:01would have deadly consequences.
11:10October 2000, Antigua.
11:14John Allen Williams arrived on the island
11:16with his three children.
11:18They were welcomed into the local community
11:21and Williams made a living
11:23forging illegal documents.
11:25Soon after his arrival,
11:26he met and enlisted the help
11:28of a 14-year-old islander
11:30called Lee Boyd Malvo.
11:33Lee Boyd Malvo was born
11:35in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1985.
11:38His mother was Una James.
11:42She was not married to his father.
11:44His father stuck around for a few years
11:46but then left,
11:47so Una raised Lee Boyd by herself.
11:51They moved around a lot,
11:53sometimes Barbados,
11:54sometimes Jamaica,
11:55and eventually made their way
11:57to Antigua.
11:59I think right when Mohamed met Malvo,
12:02there was a bond
12:04and Mohamed used him
12:07to traffic fake birth certificates
12:09on the island,
12:10just messenger-type work,
12:11and paid him a little bit.
12:13Young Lee Boyd Malvo
12:15had big dreams of one day
12:17becoming a commercial airline pilot
12:19and was a talented artist.
12:21But the one thing
12:22that he does have some control over
12:24is his schoolwork,
12:26and I think this provides him
12:28with that consistency,
12:29with that security
12:30and that stability,
12:31and he does incredibly well in school.
12:33He gets good exam results.
12:35He appears to be
12:36a really promising student.
12:38Malvo's mother
12:39obtained fake documents
12:41from Williams
12:41and traveled to Fort Myers, Florida,
12:44looking for work.
12:46Una James left Lee Boyd Malvo
12:49with John Mohamed in Antigua
12:51to watch him while she was gone.
12:54And this was the moment
12:56in which the father-son relationship
12:58that lay at the heart
13:00of what was to come in the future
13:02began to form around the pair.
13:06On May 24th, 2001,
13:09John Allen Williams,
13:11his children,
13:12and Lee Boyd Malvo
13:13also left Antigua for Florida.
13:16Malvo traveled on forged documents.
13:19He stayed with his mother
13:21in Fort Myers.
13:22Williams took his children
13:24back to Bellingham
13:25in Washington State.
13:27While he was gone,
13:29Mildred had been granted
13:30a no-fault divorce
13:31and full custody
13:33of their three children.
13:34The authorities
13:36were soon alerted
13:37of Williams' return.
13:39The children were seized
13:40and returned to their mother,
13:42who fled to the East Coast
13:44and the suburbs
13:45of Washington, D.C.
13:51Williams, now alone and homeless,
13:54moved into a shelter.
13:56A month later,
13:58Lee Boyd Malvo
13:59turned up
14:00at the lighthouse mission.
14:02John and Lee Boyd
14:03lived together
14:04in a homeless shelter
14:05for many months,
14:07and it was there
14:08that John really began
14:11inserting his discipline
14:12into Lee Boyd's life.
14:15Eventually,
14:16John got a place
14:18and began training Lee Boyd
14:20in the use of weaponry.
14:22He started to cut Malvo off
14:24from any others
14:25who might have an influence
14:26over him,
14:27and that is a key tactic
14:29of coercive
14:30and controlling behavior.
14:31You isolate your target
14:33from anybody
14:34who might criticize
14:35the relationship
14:36that you have with them.
14:38Mohammed did quite a lot
14:39of good things
14:40for Malvo.
14:41He made sure he went to school.
14:42In fact, at one point,
14:43he registered him for school
14:45as his father,
14:47actually cementing
14:48this concept
14:49of him being the father,
14:52molding his new son.
14:56In October 2001,
14:58in recognition
14:59of his Islamic faith,
15:01John Allen Williams
15:02had officially changed
15:04his name
15:04to John Allen Muhammad.
15:06He encouraged Lee Boyd
15:08to also learn
15:09about his version
15:10of Islam.
15:12John took Lee Boyd
15:14under his wing.
15:15He had kidnapped
15:16his own son, Lindbergh,
15:18and that hadn't worked out.
15:19And so, in Lee Boyd,
15:21he saw the perfect venue
15:23through which to,
15:25you know, achieve
15:26what he wanted
15:27to achieve in life.
15:30They start shooting
15:31at tree stumps.
15:34Malvo is very impressed
15:37by this.
15:40And remember, he's 16.
15:42He's very impressionable.
15:45Lee Boyd was actually
15:47ripe for the manipulation
15:49that John would do with him.
15:53John controlled
15:54every aspect of his life,
15:55what he ate.
15:56He exercised him rigorously.
16:00John was a master marksman,
16:02and he trained Lee Boyd
16:05to be a marksman.
16:07Malvo's mother,
16:09Una James,
16:10arrived in Bellingham
16:11in December 2001
16:13to see her son.
16:17They met
16:18at the lighthouse mission,
16:20but someone had tipped off
16:21immigration services.
16:24Both Una and Lee Boyd
16:26were detained
16:27as illegal immigrants.
16:30Before he could be deported,
16:32Malvo managed to run away
16:34and returned
16:35to John Muhammad.
16:38What was it
16:40that turned them
16:43from being
16:46an older man
16:48and a younger boy
16:51into what was effectively
16:53a killing machine?
16:55I think it started
16:58because Malvo wanted
17:00to prove to Williams
17:01that he was worthy
17:03of his respect.
17:04I think that Malvo
17:05always wanted
17:07to show the older man
17:08that he was capable
17:10of living up to him.
17:13February 16th, 2002,
17:16Tacoma, Washington.
17:20Lee Boyd Malvo
17:22approached the house
17:23of Issa Nichols,
17:24a friend of John Muhammad's
17:26ex-wife, Mildred.
17:29Her niece,
17:30Kenya Nicole Cook,
17:32was visiting her aunt
17:33with her baby daughter.
17:38Kenya answered a knock
17:40at the front door.
17:48Malvo shot the 21-year-old
17:50point-blank.
17:52He'd killed
17:54for the first time
17:55two days
17:57before his 17th birthday.
18:00I absolutely believe
18:02that John Alan Muhammad
18:04brainwashed Lee Boyd Malvo.
18:06I think Lee Boyd's life
18:09would have been
18:10totally different
18:11had he never met
18:12John Muhammad.
18:13I don't think
18:14he would have ever killed.
18:16One month later,
18:18March 19th,
18:19in Tucson, Arizona,
18:2160-year-old Jerry Taylor
18:23was on the golf course.
18:25A long-range single shot
18:27to the chest killed him.
18:29From March to August 2002,
18:33there were two more fatalities
18:35and five serious injuries
18:37across several states.
18:40The first proper killing
18:43is almost certainly
18:46committed by Malvo
18:48as a test from Muhammad.
18:52You've got to kill someone
18:55so that I can see
18:57that you are worthy
18:58of my respect.
18:59And the first string
19:01of shootings,
19:03almost all
19:04are committed
19:05by Malvo.
19:16September 5th,
19:182002,
19:19Clinton, Maryland.
19:24Restaurant owner
19:26Paul J. La Rufa
19:27was carrying over $3,000
19:29of cash
19:30and a laptop
19:31inside his briefcase.
19:33As he got in the car,
19:35Lee Boyd Malvo rushed up
19:37and shot him
19:38six times
19:39through the window.
19:43He emptied the briefcase,
19:45stole the cash,
19:47and fled with the laptop
19:48and his gun.
19:50Miraculously,
19:51Paul J. La Rufa
19:52survived.
19:55Five days later,
19:57with the cash stolen
19:58from La Rufa,
19:59Muhammad purchased
20:00a 1990 blue Chevy Caprice
20:03at SureShot Auto Sales
20:05in Trenton, New Jersey.
20:09Apparently,
20:09when Muhammad
20:10was purchasing
20:11this Chevy Caprice
20:13in New Jersey,
20:14we learned from the salesman
20:15that he did something
20:16very unusual,
20:17that in 25 years
20:18of being a car salesman
20:20had never been seen before
20:21by this person.
20:22He said that Muhammad
20:23opened the trunk
20:24and climbed into
20:25the back of the trunk
20:26and pulled the cover,
20:28the trunk cover down,
20:29and said,
20:30yeah,
20:31this will work.
20:38September 15th,
20:39Clinton, Maryland.
20:46September 21st,
20:47Atlanta, Georgia.
20:51Nineteen hours later,
20:53a liquor store
20:54in Montgomery, Alabama.
20:56Two women were gunned down
20:58with a long-range,
20:59high-powered rifle.
21:02Malvo approached
21:03and rifled through their purses.
21:06A police car spotted him
21:08and gave chase.
21:10Iran, dropping a gun catalogue
21:13and discarding
21:14a .22 caliber revolver.
21:17Claudine Lee Parker
21:19died off her injuries
21:20and Kelly Adams survived
21:22despite being shot
21:24through the neck.
21:26Finally,
21:27September 23rd,
21:29Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
21:34In this first spree
21:36of killings,
21:37they are moving location
21:38across states.
21:40They weren't concentrating
21:41on one area
21:42and that made them
21:44incredibly difficult
21:45to track down
21:46because these apparently
21:48were random killings
21:49committed in different states.
21:51How you join the dots
21:53to that?
21:54The answer is,
21:55you don't.
21:57Between September 26th
21:59and October 2nd,
22:012002,
22:02there were no killings.
22:05During this break,
22:06Mohamed and Malvo
22:07modified their new Chevy Caprice.
22:10They drilled a hole
22:11in the trunk.
22:13They used a glove
22:14to lay the barrel on
22:16through the hole
22:17to extend the end
22:19of the rifle
22:21through to the outside
22:22of the trunk
22:23and then they pulled
22:25the trunk almost closed
22:27but left about an inch
22:28for visibility
22:29through their sight.
22:32Satisfied with
22:32the modifications,
22:34they headed to the suburbs
22:35of Washington, D.C.
22:38On October 2nd, 2002,
22:40at half past five
22:41in the afternoon,
22:42a shot was fired
22:43through a craft store window,
22:44narrowly missing
22:45the cashier.
22:47That was the first
22:50of the D.C.
22:52sniper shootings.
22:54An hour later,
22:55at half past six,
22:56a man was killed
22:57by a rifle.
22:59He was called
22:59James Martin.
23:00The following day,
23:02October 3rd,
23:040741,
23:05James Sonny Buchanan
23:06was shot,
23:08mowing the lawn
23:09of an auto mower.
23:10What's going on, man?
23:10Uh, this guy
23:11did bump, man,
23:13and chopped him off.
23:13He's bleeding real bad.
23:15He's down and out.
23:1730 minutes later,
23:18at a petrol station
23:19in Aspen Hill,
23:21Prem Kumar Wallachar.
23:22We've got to make
23:23a crime, please.
23:24Leisure World
23:25Shopping Centre,
23:27Sarah Ramos.
23:28I need an ambulance,
23:30please.
23:30She was sitting
23:31on a bench,
23:32reading a book.
23:34That same morning,
23:37Laurie Ann Lewis-Rivera
23:39vacuuming
23:40her Dodge minivan.
23:42And then finally,
23:43on that day,
23:44at 9.20 in the evening,
23:46Pascal Charlo,
23:47a retired carpenter,
23:49was shot,
23:50walking along
23:52Georgia Avenue
23:53in Washington,
23:54D.C.
23:55And if there was
23:56one single day
23:58that transformed
23:59the nation's capital
24:01and sent a shiver
24:03down its spine,
24:04it was October 3rd,
24:062002.
24:17October 3rd,
24:18Montgomery County,
24:20Maryland.
24:21John Allen Muhammad
24:22and Lee Boyd Malvoe
24:24had brought terror
24:25to the suburbs
24:26of Washington, D.C.
24:28Five people
24:29had been killed
24:30in less than 16 hours.
24:34Ash and Benedict
24:35was a special agent
24:36with the Bureau
24:37of Alcohol,
24:38Tobacco and Firearms
24:39assigned to the
24:41Washington Field Division.
24:42At that time,
24:43five people getting shot
24:45in one day
24:45was very unusual,
24:47right?
24:48Unfortunately,
24:49in today's day and age,
24:50you hear about it
24:51much more frequently.
24:52But at that time,
24:53it definitely raised
24:54some eyebrows.
24:55It definitely got
24:56law enforcement response
24:57generated.
24:58And the great thing
24:59about ATF
25:00is that we will respond
25:01to shootings
25:03as a matter
25:04of business practice.
25:06Witness statements
25:07on October 3rd
25:08detailed seeing
25:10a blue Chevy Caprice,
25:11but it was not reported
25:13as acting suspiciously.
25:16On that day
25:17at 7 p.m.
25:18in the evening,
25:19the Chevy ran
25:20two stop signs
25:21near Washington, D.C.
25:23and was stopped
25:24by the police.
25:25John Muhammad
25:26pulled over.
25:28He had a valid license,
25:30he had a valid registration,
25:31and he was very respectful
25:32and cordial to the officers
25:34when they stopped him.
25:35These attacks
25:36came a year
25:37after 9-11,
25:39and 9-11 cast
25:40a very long shadow
25:41over the U.S.
25:42There was a real
25:43climate of fear,
25:44a real state of anxiety.
25:46The nation was
25:47on a really high
25:48state of alert
25:50at this time,
25:51so it's almost like
25:52the perfect opportunity,
25:54this window of time,
25:55for Muhammad
25:56and Malvo
25:57to wreak utter destruction.
26:00We're going to follow
26:01the evidence,
26:02we're going to follow
26:02the science
26:03and the technology.
26:04We had numerous
26:06shelf casings
26:06recovered at all
26:07these scenes,
26:08and they all went
26:09to the ATF National Laboratory
26:10in Beltsville, Maryland,
26:12and so we ascertained
26:14very quickly
26:15that the same gun
26:16was used to fire
26:18at different shooting scenes,
26:20so that science
26:20gave us a starting point.
26:22We knew we had
26:23one shooter
26:24or we had one gun
26:26utilized by
26:27several shooters potentially,
26:29and that kind of
26:30honed in
26:31our investigative team.
26:33Those bullets
26:34that we received
26:35had six lands
26:37and grooves,
26:39and they had
26:40a right twist on it,
26:41and we can measure
26:43those land impressions,
26:45each one of the six,
26:46and we can measure
26:47each one of the
26:48groove impressions,
26:50note the direction
26:51of twist and come up
26:52with a fair degree
26:53of accuracy,
26:55the make and the model
26:56of the firearm
26:57that fired that projectile.
26:59The gun was identified
27:01as a Bushmaster
27:02.223 caliber rifle,
27:05not a weapon
27:06usually associated
27:07with a sniper.
27:09You can go to gun shows
27:10and just buy it
27:11cash and carry
27:12in some locations
27:13here in the U.S.
27:14The AR-style 15 firearm
27:19was developed
27:20by the military,
27:21and it was a firearm
27:22they used in Vietnam.
27:23It's not an unusual firearm.
27:26In the States,
27:27most of them,
27:28mass shootings occur
27:29with this kind of rifle.
27:31On October the 4th,
27:33the following day
27:34to this outrageous attack
27:36in Washington, D.C.,
27:38the pair moved
27:38their location,
27:40and a woman
27:41called Caroline Sewell
27:43is shot
27:43while she's loading her car.
27:46She does, however, survive.
27:49Forensic analysis
27:50from the crime scene
27:52again determined
27:53that the bullet fragments
27:54came from a .223 caliber Bushmaster.
27:58A blue Chevy Caprice
27:59was also seen
28:01in the vicinity.
28:03The tip lines
28:04received thousands
28:05of calls
28:06and witness sightings
28:07of a blue Chevy
28:08were buried
28:09in the volume
28:10of information
28:11coming in.
28:13Three days later,
28:15on October 7th,
28:16Mohamed and Malvo
28:17drove to a wooded area
28:19close to Benjamin Tasker Middle School
28:22in Bowie, Maryland.
28:24One of them
28:25took a ballpoint pen
28:27and wrote on a tarot card
28:29depicting death,
28:30call me God.
28:32On the back,
28:33they wrote,
28:34for you, Mr. Police,
28:35code,
28:36call me God,
28:37do not release
28:38to the press.
28:40The card was placed
28:41in a plastic bag
28:42and attached
28:43to a tree.
28:45They hunkered down
28:46in a makeshift blind
28:48and waited.
28:49He's called
28:50Iran Brown
28:51and he's 13.
28:54He's attending
28:55a middle school
28:56and he's been taken there
28:57by his aunt.
29:02He fell to the ground
29:04with a single gunshot wound
29:06to the chest,
29:07critically injured.
29:08Now, all of our victims
29:10have been innocent,
29:11have been defenseless,
29:13but now we're stepping
29:15over the line
29:16because our children
29:17don't deserve this.
29:19But it's after
29:20that shooting
29:20that we get
29:22the first communication
29:24between
29:25Mohamed and Malvo
29:26and the authorities.
29:29Dear Mr. Police,
29:31it's...
29:32It's a taunt.
29:34It was leaked
29:35that it said,
29:36I am God
29:36and in fact,
29:37it said,
29:38call me God.
29:39So anyone that called
29:39the tip line
29:40and said,
29:41I know somebody
29:42who says,
29:42I am God
29:4310 times a day,
29:44I think you should
29:44look at him,
29:45we were able to eliminate
29:47without spending
29:47too much time on it.
29:49We were all
29:49in this together
29:50and what every agency
29:51had did the best of,
29:53they brought that best
29:54to the table
29:55and said,
29:55I will handle this.
29:57ATF said,
29:58we are the Federal
29:59Firearms Investigative Agency
30:01for the United States.
30:02We will do the ballistics.
30:04The FBI will do
30:05the fingerprinting.
30:06The Montgomery County,
30:08Prince George's County,
30:09Virginia State Authorities,
30:10you know,
30:11they work crime scenes.
30:12That's what they do well.
30:16On October 9th,
30:18around 8.15 in the evening,
30:2053-year-old Dean Mayers
30:22was filling his car
30:23at a Sunoco petrol station
30:25in Manassas, Virginia.
30:28The blue Chevy Caprice
30:30was parked in a lot
30:31across the street.
30:35A single shot to the head
30:37killed Mayers
30:38as he stood
30:39at the petrol pump.
30:40With such a heightened
30:42state of alert,
30:43police were quickly
30:44at the scene.
30:45The bullet recovered
30:46was from a .223 caliber
30:48Bushmaster rifle.
30:50In the immediate aftermath
30:52of the shooting,
30:54Mohammed was interviewed
30:55in the parking lot
30:56but not detained.
31:00Local news here in Washington
31:02is national news.
31:03And so when you have
31:04a serial shooter
31:05or shooters
31:06committing random acts
31:08of violence
31:09in the nation's capital
31:10and its suburbs,
31:11it captures the nation's attention
31:12very, very quickly.
31:14All eyes were on Washington
31:15at that time.
31:16It was like anybody else
31:18sitting at home
31:19watching CNN
31:20and you see
31:22one day
31:24it was a shooting somewhere
31:26and then
31:27you check back
31:28two, three days later
31:29and it's another shooting
31:30and then it's another shooting.
31:31So I was captivated
31:33and on alert
31:34like the rest of the world was.
31:37So I think
31:38there was a sense
31:39of satisfaction
31:39on this part of the snipers
31:41that they were able to create
31:42this sense of fear,
31:44paralyze the community,
31:45paralyze the nation's capital
31:47of the region
31:48with one gun.
31:50And so,
31:51but it wasn't enough for them.
31:53I mean,
31:53they could have,
31:54you know,
31:54gone across the country
31:56and escaped
31:56but no,
31:57they kept at it.
31:58It was a game of cat and mouse.
32:00Seven dead
32:01in the D.C. suburbs
32:03and two more
32:04critically injured.
32:05For Mohamed and Malvo,
32:08it wasn't enough.
32:18John Allen Mohammed
32:19and Lee Boyd Malvo's
32:21killing spree
32:22had gripped the entire nation.
32:24No one in
32:25and around Washington, D.C.
32:28felt safe.
32:29Although their targets
32:31were random,
32:32the planning was not.
32:34They were killing people
32:36close to the exits
32:38and entrances
32:39of interstates.
32:40So,
32:42as they would shoot somebody,
32:44all they had to do
32:45was jump on the interstate
32:46to go to their next destination
32:48and it made
32:49an easy escape route
32:51for them.
32:51On October 11th, 2002,
32:53Kenneth Bridges
32:54is shot
32:54at an Exxon station
32:56in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
32:59And at that point,
33:02some of the gas station owners
33:04on the East Coast
33:05begin to erect tarpaulings
33:08so that their customers
33:10can drive in
33:11and fill up their cars
33:13without fearing
33:14they're going to be
33:14targeted by a sniper.
33:16That's how big an effect
33:18that Mohamed and Malvo
33:21have had
33:21on the whole area.
33:23There was no connection
33:24between the victims.
33:25The only connection
33:26was between
33:27the shootings themselves,
33:28the ballistics,
33:30the evidence left behind,
33:31the DNA,
33:32the fingerprints,
33:33the notes.
33:33That was the link.
33:36October 14th,
33:38Columbus Day holiday.
33:4047-year-old FBI analyst
33:43Linda Franklin
33:44was shopping
33:45at a home depot
33:46with her husband.
33:48From across the street,
33:49Malvo trained his sight
33:51on William Franklin.
33:53At the last moment,
33:55he switched targets
33:56and pulled the trigger.
34:01and she had her head
34:02blown off
34:03in front of her husband,
34:05literally.
34:06And that reality
34:08and just the whole emotion
34:10of the gravity of that
34:12and the sadness,
34:14I mean,
34:14the 911 call
34:16that Mr. Franklin made
34:18immediately following
34:20Linda Franklin
34:20going down
34:22is chilling.
34:23and I will never
34:25get that out of my head.
34:30No one was standing around.
34:32Folks were definitely
34:33on edge
34:33and not looking
34:34to make themselves
34:34a target.
34:36But the streets
34:37were just shut down
34:38and the amount
34:38of traffic
34:39in the Washington region
34:40is pretty heavy
34:41on a normal day.
34:42When you start
34:43shutting down roads
34:44around crime scenes
34:45and on the beltway,
34:46it comes to
34:47an absolute crawl.
34:50After the shooting
34:52of Linda Franklin,
34:53Mohammed and Malvo
34:54laid low
34:55for five days.
34:57During this period,
34:59the task force
35:00caught a lucky break.
35:01A fingerprint
35:02taken from a gun catalogue
35:04found at a crime scene
35:05in Alabama
35:06on September 22nd
35:08was a match
35:09to a print taken
35:10by Immigration Services
35:11in Bellingham,
35:13Washington state.
35:14This information
35:15coincided
35:16with a call
35:17to the tip line
35:18from a Bellingham resident
35:20called Robert Holmes.
35:23An Army friend
35:24of John Allen Williams
35:26who said,
35:27I think this could be
35:28my friend
35:29and my co-worker
35:31in the Army.
35:31And he gave us
35:32that name
35:33and he said,
35:34incidentally,
35:35he's recently
35:35been traveling
35:36with someone
35:38I think is about 17
35:39that he nicknamed
35:40Sniper.
35:41The National Motor
35:43Vehicle Title Database
35:45also revealed
35:46that John Allen Mohammed
35:47had purchased
35:48a blue Chevy Caprice
35:50on September 10th, 2002
35:52in Trenton, New Jersey.
35:55It was very specific.
35:57We had linked,
35:58um,
35:59the shootings
36:00to the robbery
36:02down in,
36:03um, Alabama.
36:04The forensics information
36:06came in,
36:07the DNA came in,
36:08the fingerprints came in.
36:09We were able
36:10to put that all together
36:11and realize
36:12who we're looking for.
36:13So now we had
36:14concrete information
36:15on the suspects
36:18and, uh,
36:19and the vehicle
36:19we're looking for.
36:20So that happened
36:21in a blink of an eye
36:22where we went from
36:23casting a wide net
36:24to now we,
36:25we know who we're looking for.
36:26We're fishing with a spear.
36:29On the evening of October 19th,
36:33Malvo and Mohammed
36:34were concealed
36:34in the tree line
36:35opposite the Ponderosa steakhouse
36:38in Ashland, Virginia,
36:40waiting.
36:43They'd tacked a handwritten
36:44five-page note
36:46to a nearby tree.
36:48The note was emblazoned
36:50with 13 red stars,
36:52one for each kill.
36:55Just before 8 p.m.,
36:5837-year-old Jeffrey Hopper
37:00left the steakhouse
37:01with his wife
37:01and was shot
37:02in the stomach.
37:04He was critically injured
37:06but alive.
37:07The note basically
37:09demanded $10 million
37:10be put on a credit card,
37:12which,
37:13fortunately,
37:14the criminals
37:14aren't as smart
37:15as they could be
37:17or it might be
37:18more difficult
37:19to catch them
37:19but they expected us
37:20to put $10 million
37:21on a credit card.
37:22Mohammed asks
37:23for $10 million
37:26for them
37:27to give themselves up
37:28so that they can
37:30found a school
37:31for disadvantaged
37:33black children
37:34in Canada.
37:40On October 22nd,
37:42Mohammed and Malvo
37:43waited across the street
37:44from a bus stop
37:46in Montgomery County.
37:48Another note
37:49was positioned
37:49in plain sight.
37:51At 05.58 a.m.,
37:53a bus driver
37:54was about to begin
37:55his daily route.
37:56A single gunshot
37:58to the chest,
37:59he died standing
38:01on the top step
38:02of his bus.
38:04His name was Conrad.
38:05It was his first name.
38:06The note
38:07in the bushes
38:09in the plastic bag,
38:11not necessarily
38:12for its forensic value
38:13but for the mere fact
38:16that they put it there
38:17and they just killed
38:19a man
38:19and it's a game
38:20to them, right?
38:22It was so upsetting
38:22to me
38:23to see that
38:25level of,
38:26it was so casual
38:27about taking a life
38:28and planting this note
38:30and going,
38:30now see if you can find me.
38:32Here's a little bit,
38:33here's a little bit more.
38:36On October 23rd,
38:39the D.C. Sniper Task Force
38:41released a license plate
38:42of the Blue Chevy Caprice
38:44and descriptions
38:45of their primary suspects
38:47to the national media.
38:49Well, we wanted to use
38:50the media
38:51and the public
38:52and law enforcement
38:53as a team
38:54to find these suspects, right?
38:56So it wasn't a secret
38:57that we wanted to find them
38:58and we need everybody's help
38:59to do that.
39:00So the only things
39:01that we were trying
39:02to keep kind of close hold
39:05was we wanted to make sure
39:07the information
39:07we were releasing
39:08to the public
39:08was accurate,
39:10it was actionable
39:10and it was timely.
39:12On October 23rd,
39:15refrigerator repairman
39:16Whitney Donoghue
39:17was driving home
39:19on the I-70
39:20to Pennsylvania
39:21when he heard
39:22a news report
39:23releasing the details
39:24of the wanted suspects.
39:27He made a note
39:28on his pay stub,
39:29which was on his passenger seat,
39:31of the information
39:32of the car
39:32and wrote down
39:33the license plate.
39:34He pulled into a rest stop
39:36off of I-70
39:39and as soon as he got parked,
39:41he observed
39:42a blue Chevy Caprice.
39:45If it's a description
39:46of what he had just heard
39:47on the news,
39:48he called 911.
39:50And so he was very brave
39:52and got on his CB radio,
39:55which is the ability
39:56to communicate
39:57with the truckers
39:57in the region
39:58and on his own,
39:59he asked truckers
40:01to help block
40:02the entrance
40:03to the rest stop
40:04and the exit
40:05from the rest stop
40:06with their 18-wheelers
40:08so that these suspects
40:10wouldn't be able
40:11to escape by car.
40:12Donoghue confirmed
40:14the license plate
40:15and that the vehicle
40:16was occupied
40:17to the police.
40:19He waited
40:20and watched
40:21as law enforcement
40:22agents moved in.
40:24The window was breached
40:25because the door
40:26in the back
40:27was locked.
40:28They were pulled out.
40:29They were handcuffed
40:30and separated
40:31on the curb.
40:32And immediately,
40:35the first review
40:36of the car,
40:37they were able
40:37to find the Bushmaster
40:38behind the back seat
40:40and it had one
40:41in the chamber
40:42ready to fire.
40:43It was actually
40:44not in the safe mode.
40:45So a simple pull
40:46of the trigger
40:48and there would have
40:49been an incident
40:49and Malvo said,
40:51it's my fault.
40:52I fell asleep.
40:55It was a huge relief
40:56and it was a sense
40:57of accomplishment
40:58and pride
40:59not only for ATF
41:01but for the entire
41:02task force team.
41:03The nation's psyche
41:04was drawn to this
41:06investigation
41:06because really
41:08it could be
41:08any one of us
41:09on any given day.
41:11Three weeks
41:11of shootings,
41:12of trying to find
41:13these people,
41:14bring them to justice,
41:16get them off the street,
41:17get the public safety
41:19aspect back to
41:20where folks
41:21are comfortable
41:21in their communities.
41:24Both men
41:25initially pled
41:26not guilty
41:27and faced years
41:28of litigation
41:29for their
41:29multi-jurisdictional
41:31crimes.
41:32In October 2003,
41:35John Allen Muhammad
41:36was first brought
41:37to trial
41:37in the state
41:38of Virginia
41:39for the murder
41:40of Dean Mayers.
41:41He was found
41:43guilty of capital
41:44murder
41:44and in March 2004,
41:47sentenced to death
41:48by lethal injection.
41:49Lee Boyd Malvo
41:51was first brought
41:52to trial
41:52in 2003
41:54in Virginia
41:55for the murder
41:55of Linda Franklin.
41:57As a minor,
41:58he did not face
41:59the death penalty.
42:00Three years later,
42:02in a surprise reversal,
42:04Malvo pleaded guilty
42:05and testified
42:06against Muhammad.
42:07Malvo is currently
42:09serving 10 consecutive
42:10life sentences
42:11without parole
42:13in Red Onion State
42:14Prison in Virginia.
42:17I don't hold him
42:18as responsible
42:19as I hold
42:20John Allen Muhammad
42:21because John Allen Muhammad
42:23took a teenager
42:25who did not have a father
42:26from his home
42:27and he manipulated him,
42:30he brainwashed him,
42:32and he trained him
42:33to be a monster.
42:34There isn't an ounce
42:36of me that thinks
42:37that Malvo was brainwashed
42:39by Muhammad.
42:39I think that he was all in
42:41and I was a very willing
42:43participant.
42:44He was calculating
42:44and smart
42:45on choosing targets
42:47and the teamwork
42:48was obviously
42:50very successful.
42:51The prosecutors
42:52in Muhammad's trial
42:53insisted that perhaps
42:55the motive
42:55was that Muhammad
42:56wished to shoot
42:58his ex-wife,
42:59second ex-wife,
43:00Mildred,
43:01and he was using
43:02these shootings
43:03around Washington
43:04as an excuse.
43:06I've never believed it.
43:07I don't think it's true.
43:08How could the person
43:09that at one point in time
43:10I looked up to
43:12commit these type of crimes?
43:14What happened
43:17to lead up
43:18to these crimes?
43:19What went so wrong
43:21to make you
43:22snap and think
43:24this was the right decision
43:26to make these actions?
43:29On November 10th, 2009,
43:32at Greensville Correctional Center
43:34in Virginia,
43:36John Allen Muhammad
43:37was executed
43:38by lethal injection.
43:40At 9.11 p.m.,
43:42Muhammad was pronounced dead.
43:44The only person
43:46he spoke to that night
43:47was his son, Lindbergh.
43:50Last words my father told me
43:52was,
43:52be strong, black man.
43:53That was his exact last words.
43:57Be strong, black man.
43:58And he turned around
44:00and walked out the door
44:01and never looked back.
44:02What makes these two killers
44:03so despicable
44:04is the fact that
44:05to be somebody,
44:07they had to destroy
44:08other people.
44:09They felt that
44:11to gain the respect
44:12that they were entitled to
44:14and to gain the recognition,
44:16they needed to go
44:17and harm and gun down
44:18everyday people
44:19going about their business.
44:21I remember seeing,
44:22again,
44:23his body
44:24outside that bus
44:25and thinking to myself,
44:27you know,
44:27this gentleman
44:28just went to work
44:29to take people
44:31to their,
44:31about their day-to-day lives
44:33and that was taken from him
44:34and it was senselessly
44:35taken from him.
44:35I am getting older
44:37and I don't remember
44:38what I had to eat
44:39yesterday for breakfast
44:40but I remember
44:41the dates
44:42and the victims
44:43and the tragedy
44:45of this case
44:46with a snap of a finger
44:48so I can't explain it.
44:50It's just,
44:50it's deep.
44:5617 people shot dead,
44:58the largest serial killer
45:00manhunt in the history
45:01of the United States
45:02had ended.
45:03There was no pattern
45:04to the senseless killing,
45:06there were no victim profiles.
45:08They were all just ordinary folk
45:10living their lives,
45:12going about their daily business
45:14when they were targeted
45:15by the Beltway snipers,
45:18John Allen Muhammad
45:19and Lee Boyd Malvo,
45:21two of the world's
45:22most evil killers.
45:34The End
45:51Transcription by CastingWords