- 4 hours ago
The First 48 - Season 29 - Episode 12: Mystery Man
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TVTranscript
00:01This program documents actual homicide investigations.
00:05Criminal charges are often dropped or reduced,
00:07and all suspects shown are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
00:23When the accounting police talk, can I assist you?
00:26Hi, yes. I'm calling from the Paid & Co. H.O.A.
00:30And we had a truck yesterday was parked in our entry.
00:34This is no parking, and it's just sitting in for 24 hours.
00:39So we wanted to call it in.
00:41Okay. And can I get a description of the vehicle?
00:44It's a white.
00:46Can I get the address, please?
00:51We're at Paid & Co. H.O.A.
00:54All right, ma'am.
01:01How can we help her?
01:04Good evening.
01:06I'm calling to report to my husband
01:09this man after the evening of a county?
01:10My husband is from the morning that came to work
01:11and he has returned to nothing,
01:14or sponsored his phone number,
01:17he wasn't going to work neither.
01:19What is your husband's name?
01:21Guadalupe García Rodríguez.
01:24What color and type of vehicle he handles?
01:27It's a white car, 4x4, it's a Chevrolet.
01:415.32 to radio. I'm 10.7.
01:43I'm in the car. I'm the one out for this morning.
01:51Guadalupe Casilla.
01:52I'm ready to put on it.
02:03The radio looks like an individual in the car.
02:06New passenger seat.
02:08They don't really have a decent visual on them.
02:10I'm going to try and wake them up.
02:185.13, code 22.
02:21Not responding to me, knocking on the window.
02:27Door was unlocked. It's like mail.
02:30It's going to be laying in the passenger seat, upside down, head towards the ground.
02:36A large pool, but it'll be an obvious 48.
02:54For homicide detectives, their chance of solving a murderer is cut in half if they don't get a lead within
03:02the first 48 hours.
03:03I'm in the bus.
03:28In the bus.
03:32reports that missing wife last seen him about 6 a.m monday morning right what's today wednesday
03:39couple days and his address is not too far from here okay
03:47guadalupe garcia rodriguez
03:5239 year old guadalupe garcia rodriguez was born and raised in oaxaca mexico and moved to georgia
03:5912 years ago the youngest of eight he worked for a local tree service and lived with his wife of
04:0610
04:06years and their two young children in a mobile home park two miles from where his truck was found
04:27so you have him he's under this jacket laying in a pool of blood one projectiles in his leg
04:37guadalupe was shot twice once in his right thigh
04:43and once in the chest when i crawl over him to look down i don't see a gun right
04:53we have one shell casing there
04:55mm-hmm right there you have that one nine millimeter casings you got a defect right here
05:08there's blood you see that he's got an entry wound in his right leg which there's a defect in the
05:16center console you know from the passenger side going to the driver's side so he was in the driver's
05:21seat when he got shot in the leg guy was in the passenger seat shot him in the leg and
05:27then dragged
05:28him over to the passenger side i think the guy pushed him down there and then covered him with the
05:33jacket i could put it over him and get sealed yeah that's what it looks like
05:50right please
05:54this looks like a laceration possibly pistol whipped he's got a cone wrapped around his neck
06:03like a phone charger looks like it might be pad on one side so they choked him out
06:12he's got a wallet got cash in it it looks like
06:20no cell phone in the truck not that i saw no somebody wanted this guy dead why that's the question
06:38that's what i'm talking about
06:44black one yes you might have a witness down here she said she reported it as a 1a
06:52the woman who called in the truck is a suspicious vehicle arrives on scene
06:56okay we'll talk to her good morning good morning hey my name's corporal blackburn i work with the
07:03gunnet county police department um can i ask you a couple questions uh you want to stand over here
07:08where the lights are not blinding us did you call to report the vehicle on the side of the road
07:13yes
07:15monday morning i was on my way to work around 7 15. i was coming out i saw his truck
07:23and i was like why is he parking because it's in a no parking right going out and saw a
07:30short
07:30spanish car get out the truck he was on the drive side and then he opened up the back door
07:36and got a bag right close the door and start walking down the street he was walking towards
07:41the entrance right to make a look and i was like is he leaving this part i saw him walk
07:48across
07:48the street in front of me and he walked across the auto center he was in their driveway and he
07:56walked up on lawrenceville highway going southbound okay when i came home monday night
08:02i saw the truck was still there so i said okay i'll call make sure it is not stolen or
08:07anything so
08:08that's when i called the police right i'm scared the ass or something i think you already know the answer
08:17to that on monday did you ever hear a gunshot no no no any commotion no no uh short hispanic
08:28man
08:29do you remember what color shirt he was wearing it was like black with some gray in it black and
08:33gray
08:34okay it was sleeveless okay um i can't remember his pants or nothing but i know he had like a
08:39short
08:39head cut okay could you put an age on the guy at all well you look like he was probably
08:44like 30s
08:46all right um i have your number there's no reason for you to hang around if i have any additional
08:50questions i'll call you all right thank you man
08:59a way to observe somebody walking away from the truck that might be the suspect
09:04i mean hopefully we can get some good video from across the street yeah yeah
09:09do you want to walk over and look at that business and see if there's cameras in that parking
09:13lot or just so we know
09:24we did a quick canvas uh there's a business across the street that has three surveillance cameras that
09:29are facing paving drive and uh going down marksville highway we have a bunch of residential houses on
09:35the street so we'll come back out in the morning we'll uh try to make contact with these people and
09:39try to get video footage of the suspect walking away right now he needs to get in contact with
09:48his wife who did he pick up where did he go you know where he was going that morning
09:56okay i'm gonna talk to her drive the street six minute drive
10:06okay ready
10:18all right let's do this
10:46we gave her the death notification she didn't really have much information to provide us
10:51uh the victim wasn't into drugs wasn't into gambling came home every night
10:57and she said the victim had a backpack with his work stuff
11:02witness described the the person that she observed walking away from the truck with a backpack
11:08also uh she did have a video from monday morning from the next door neighbors
11:14uh suspicious person cleaning up against a tree and i was around 6 15.
11:22this is the trailer that she says has the video yeah
11:36the wife says she found the strings that he hadn't answered her all day monday so she went to the
11:41neighbor's house detectives pull up the video from guadalupe's next door neighbor
11:47that suspicious male was seen on camera standing right outside the house like 15 minutes before the
11:54wife says her husband left for work her husband doesn't give anybody a ride uh doesn't have any
12:02co-workers or anything he normally picks up doesn't really bring anybody to the house they had no idea
12:06what the guy was cameron doesn't catch that male getting in the car he doesn't catch the truck driving
12:11by but it looks like he's wearing long sleeve yeah black like a hoodie the jacket had to hurt him
12:19cover takes his jacket off he's like covers on oh that's him
12:40the video quality is not the best so you're not able to make a face out or anything like that
12:51victim's family doesn't know who this person is we don't have him on camera walking into the trailer
12:56park but he's waiting for him to come out knowing that he leaves around 6 6 30 to to travel
13:04to his
13:04job so kind of shows me that you know these two know each other you know
13:09we have a good timeline it's a very short window so ultimately we need to get the surveillance footage
13:14from nearby businesses and the nearby trailers where victim was living at to get a good idea
13:21on this guy and you know where he came from and where he went after the homicide
13:32the team pans out hey how are you canvassing the victim's neighborhood do you have access to your
13:41home surveillance cameras
13:43home surveillance cameras and along the highway where they believe the suspect fled after the
13:49murder see if we can reduce some video footage thank you
13:57hey how are you hey how are you good when investigating the shooting happened just
14:02down the road after taking you know if any of your cameras picked up off this floor
14:07yeah i should be able to run it back
14:18hi do you have cameras on the roadway check them real quick
14:33we did collect video from businesses and the victim's trailer park from before and after the
14:39homicide but there was no video of the suspect walking up to guadalupe's trailer from before the
14:45homicide but we do have video footage of a vehicle a green honda crv entered the trailer park at 6
14:52603 right before the suspect is captured leaning against a tree in front of guadalupe's trailer
15:01shortly after the crv is exiting the trailer park at 608 so i believe that the crv is how the
15:09suspect
15:09arrived that morning
15:14so that's why we don't have him on camera walking into the trailer park
15:19somebody dropped him off he was on foot that's what i was thinking
15:26in the video captured after the murder
15:30right here
15:32the suspect can be seen walking away from the crime scene
15:36you see him carrying the black book bag that belongs to the victim
15:42and let me just show you this video real quick
15:52it's like so close to seeing his face
15:56hispanic male early 40s
15:58i think 30 to 40 is a good good range
16:01do you see his head like it's shaved off you see that or like balding or something yeah
16:11there's a camera on the chevron
16:15straight across
16:19the suspect continues walking southbound on lawrenceville highway
16:25but then turns off looks like we got one cutting through a neighborhood where is this amberwood
16:32eight in the morning yeah
16:35all black with a book bag
16:37so he's cutting through or he made a living there
16:49so we have a direction to travel
16:52try to get additional video 10 years down and figure out where he went and go from there
17:09over the next several days the team continues to hunt for video
17:16hey sir do you have any cameras that face the roadway in hopes of tracking the suspect
17:20oh my god
17:25they got a camera right there
17:27hey how are you we're trying to access cameras in this neighborhood all right
17:35is that camera there is pointing this way
17:43hola do you have access to the ring cameras
17:50yes see this is where it gets tricky nothing gracias thank you
17:58he doesn't walk this way or doesn't walk past his location
18:04so now we're trying to pick him back up and there's these little side streets where he could
18:09have turned down that's where it gets a little bit tougher
18:28okay well thank you for checking
18:33he's disappeared
18:35doesn't go man that's the question
18:39this is my uh 17th homicide last homicides have been all solved so you know we're going to try to
18:46keep that trend and this way we'll get solved you're going to be 17 and l brother i promise
18:51we'll figure it out we just got to find out where you got that
19:01nine days in the last camera we lose him at is that hillwood drive we checked these houses right
19:09here and we don't have anybody captured walking past them so we're just going to go knock on some
19:14residential houses showing the picture of the suspect see if he possibly lives in the area they
19:19have been walking in the neighborhood
19:21all right
19:30let's go to the door to door see if you recognize this person possibly a neighbor or
19:40you guys recognize this person hispanic male 5556
19:45and the book bag okay then
19:54hey blackburn gets a call from detective tyler daniel who was canvassing several blocks away
20:03ariah okay we might got something hop in
20:18i showed him the picture in a media and he goes oh i i know that guy he walks up
20:22and down the street
20:23all the time says he has seen him with longer hair but recently he thinks he's gotten a haircut
20:28uh the one up here he's seen him too yeah
20:32i had a guy that said the same thing he's seen that guy walk around in the backpack before
20:49it's looking good i mean he most likely living in this neighborhood we just gotta figure out what
20:53the house now so we're just gonna keep pushing unfortunately this is a pretty big neighborhood
20:56so let's keep knocking
21:02uh we're just going door to door to see if anybody in the neighborhood recognizes this individual
21:12hey man hey how are you good have you ever seen this gentleman
21:16hmm never never have no one this way has seen him okay
21:32after two weeks of canvassing so my instinct is that he lives somewhere in the neighborhood
21:39i'm just gonna figure out where so do the media release to go from there it's kind of like the
21:46last resort throwing spaghetti at a wall uh-huh hoping it sticks
21:59we are about two miles from where that father's body was found and now police need the public's help
22:04to find a killer the pictured suspect is the suspect that's seen exiting the victim's vehicle anyone who
22:11might recognize the suspect is urged to call guinnett county police where they can remain anonymous
22:21one month into the investigation
22:28i'm the lead investigator blackburn gets a call from an anonymous source
22:33who knew the victim any information regarding the investigation
22:41this is uh detective araya
22:49the source says 15 years ago guadalupe had bought some land from the father of his ex-girlfriend
23:00okay
23:01oh
23:29The source says that the father and another man
23:32went to Guadalupe's home to pressure him to sell.
24:28The ex's address is on the same block, where neighbors
24:32saw the suspect walking.
24:41We got a motive now.
24:46Possibly.
24:47We got a house.
24:50This can't be a coincidence.
24:53The plan is to do some recon at the ex's house,
24:56to see who is coming and leaving,
24:58and to obtain some license plate numbers
25:00of the vehicles at the residence.
25:11One hour later...
25:13We went to the ex's residence, conducting surveillance.
25:19The house had us on a CRV parked in the driveway,
25:21and we distinctly remember seeing a CRV in the video
25:25from the victim's trailer home coming in that morning.
25:30So this is what they took today,
25:31and this is the surveillance footage
25:33from the day of the murder, the morning of the murder.
25:36We need to get the registered owner of this car.
25:38Right.
25:41See you.
25:47This is going to be the registered owner.
25:49The CRV is registered to the husband of Guadalupe's ex.
25:56I mean, we had this guy walking in the direction.
25:59We had ties from the victim over property spook.
26:02I mean, I feel like we have enough for a search warrant
26:04to hit the house.
26:11About to execute the search warrant.
26:16That's the house right there.
26:2210-7 with CID 120 in units.
26:32Guadalupe's ex is outside.
26:55You can talk to Barbara,
26:58who ...
26:58Who does my wife ...
26:59Probably talk about the details to our clients.
26:59Can I help you?
27:04With Fitzgerald!
27:05What do you think you live here,
27:10with your wife?
27:11Yes.
27:12That's fine,
27:15Guadalupe's ex says her husband is a manager at an underground cable installation company
27:20and often travels for work.
27:43With Guadalupe and your dad.
27:45Why did you say that your dad wanted to talk to Guadalupe?
27:48I don't know.
27:50My dad used to sell a medical field.
27:55It's part of my dad's parents.
28:00It's a family area.
28:01And once I came and asked my dad,
28:08I'd like to buy him because he has water.
28:12Do you have invernaderos where they produce a tomato?
28:16Did your dad talk to you about the importance of having that property?
28:23No.
28:23No.
28:24No.
28:26No.
28:26Did your dad ask someone?
28:27No.
28:28Because my dad has a lot of territory.
28:30My dad...
28:35The one that is outside now,
28:36who handles that car?
28:39The CRB.
28:40The CRB.
28:41The CRB.
28:42Who handles it?
28:45Your husband?
28:46Does your husband handle that car too?
28:47No.
28:48Because he has his car.
28:51I don't know.
28:52There were other people who were leaving here in June or July.
28:56I don't know.
28:57A few people come from work.
28:59It's like a person who comes here.
29:04Where do you stay from?
29:06In the room.
29:08In the room.
29:09In the room.
29:09In the room.
29:09In the room.
29:10They stay from the house.
29:12And on the weekends.
29:13And on the weekends.
29:14And on the weekends.
29:17Do you always come here?
29:19No.
29:20That's like a person who's here.
29:40Detectives show a surveillance picture of the suspect.
29:47No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
30:15Mm-hmm.
30:19Mm-hmm.
30:23Mm-hmm.
30:23Mm-hmm.
30:25Mm-hmm.
30:38OK.
30:40Outside.
30:41Hey, man.
30:43My name's Corporal Blackburn.
30:44What is your name?
30:45One of the sons of Guadalupe and his ex
30:47returns home from school.
30:50Can we talk down here, bud?
30:51Yeah.
30:51Cool.
30:53It's very important that you find this with me,
30:56because, you know, I got to figure out
30:58who killed your father, OK?
31:01I didn't have a good relationship with my real dad.
31:03I didn't really talk to him for, like, three, four years.
31:08All right.
31:09Do you remember this person?
31:11I haven't seen him.
31:13I go to school most of the time.
31:17You need to be 100% how you should be, OK?
31:19I already know that he was staying here.
31:22That's why we are here, OK?
31:24There's no reason to cover up for this person.
31:27For this person that was staying with you,
31:28what does he go by?
31:31He went by Gavino.
31:37Is that his first name?
31:39That's where he goes by.
31:41And how long was Gavino living here?
31:43Like a year.
31:45A year?
31:45Yeah.
31:47His bedroom is, like, next to my brothers.
31:50Both of my brothers.
31:52So you think he's been living here for one year?
31:55Yeah.
31:58So why do you think Gavino killed your father for?
32:04I don't know why.
32:06I don't know if it was him, actually, or if it was him.
32:09No, it was him.
32:10That's why we're here.
32:12I had video of him leaving the murder scene
32:14and coming to this neighborhood
32:16and coming to this house, OK?
32:19So we have to figure out, you know,
32:21who this Gavino is, OK?
32:23Because he's a bad person, OK?
32:26He killed your father.
32:27So that's why I need you to be 100% honest with me
32:30and help me figure out how I can find Gavino
32:33before he kills somebody else.
32:50And when did Gavino finally leave this house
32:53and didn't come back?
32:54Um, like, pretty little slow.
32:57It was around the same time police
32:59released the suspect's photo to the media.
33:03Do you know how he left this place?
33:05No?
33:07All right.
33:08Wanna go back up here?
33:09Yeah.
33:10Yeah.
33:20The team executes their search warrant for the house.
33:23Down here?
33:25That's right.
33:25There was a 9mm wide round of ammunition.
33:33Victim was shot with a 9mm.
33:36There's a folder of paperwork.
33:40I sent pictures of it.
33:43Dude, the paperwork has its name.
33:54Oh, man.
33:56That is a freaking burden off my chest now.
34:00That am identified.
34:01Finally.
34:02Finally.
34:03Finally, finally, finally, finally.
34:12The
34:1338-year-old Mario Rene Lopez Jolón is originally from Guatemala where he worked in agriculture.
34:20He came to the U.S. two years ago in search of job opportunities to pay off debt and send
34:25money back home to his wife and eight children.
34:53Guadalupe's ex now admits that her husband took Gavino with him on his work trip to Huntsville,
35:01Alabama.
35:24There's enough rewards, yeah.
35:28Just head back to 35, we're going to make some phone calls, I'm going to get arrest warrants.
35:41So I obtained arrest warrants against the suspect for felony murder, malice murder.
35:46I made contact with a U.S. Marshal in Alabama.
35:52They're going to set up on this house where we believe the suspect is staying out right
35:56now for the night.
35:58Myself and Corporal Raya are about to head out and then link up with Huntsville PD once
36:04we get there.
36:20Huntsville police find Mario Lopez Holon and take him into custody.
36:25All right, I appreciate the help, man.
36:27Yes, sir.
36:27All right, thank you.
36:28Bye.
36:28Bye.
36:28Bye.
36:44I'm hoping we kind of get a full rundown of why this all occurred.
36:50Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on.
36:57Hey, good to have you.
37:00How are you?
37:01Hello.
37:02Hello.
37:04My name is Corporal Blackburn.
37:06We're in that county police department.
37:08Oh, OK.
37:13Come a long ways.
37:15You got to stand up, get the handcuffs off.
37:20How are you?
37:22Mario Hernandez Lopez.
37:24So, we work for the Gwinnett County Police Department.
37:27I was on July 1st.
37:30I was the lead detective for a homicide investigation.
37:34To Guadalupe Rodriguez, OK?
37:55I was the lastler of the police department.
37:59I know he was afraid.
37:59He's my friend.
38:02The guy.
38:05We were together.
38:06They grabbed him.
38:09I was taking him away.
38:12The guy, that guy.
38:13He's taking him away.
38:14He's taking him out.
38:14I'll take him out and we told me.
38:17He's taking him out.
38:18He's taking him.
38:19the morning of the murder, he went to Guadalupe's house
38:21to ask for his money back.
38:28And that he then walked to a nearby gas station
38:31to play their slot machines.
38:43So during the investigation, I learned a lot, okay?
38:46And I kind of got an idea why this happened.
38:49We want to talk to you to discuss everything that happened
38:52and get your side of the story, okay?
39:18I don't know how to do it, but it's hard to understand.
39:26You said, I think I want to get a lawyer because it's going to be...
39:29It's really difficult for me to understand.
39:31Okay.
39:33And that's your right, okay?
39:36But I just want you to know that after, you know,
39:40during the investigation, there's video footage
39:43of you leaving the homicide scene, okay?
39:45So I'm just going to leave it as that, okay?
39:56So you'll be extradited to the Gwinnett County Jail.
40:00The cargo that you have is called Murdered.
40:08Possession with a weapon and assault aggressive.
40:13So you can see him.
40:14Okay.
40:21I mean, it'd be nice to get the suspect's side of the story
40:23and, you know, figure out, you know, why.
40:27Um, I mean, was this something that he was given money
40:31to kill this guy over land, over Guadalupe's refusal
40:35for not telling him to land back to the ex's father in Mexico?
40:40But it feels good.
40:41This was one of my toughest cases that I've had
40:43and I ultimately got the suspect arrested.
40:46This was my 17th homicide, so still 17 and 0.
40:54Two days later...
40:56Okay.
40:57Blackburn gets a hold of Guadalupe's ex-girlfriend's father.
41:04He says he doesn't know why, um, you know, Mario killed Lupe,
41:09but I learned that Guadalupe's land will go to Guadalupe's eldest son
41:14with the ex.
41:16So that means the land will stay with the ex's family.
41:19So I believe there's a possibility that the land dispute
41:22was the motive for the homicide.
41:25But also, to me, you know, if Mario did get the green light
41:29to kill Lupe, why didn't Mario get a cut
41:33and why is he still in the country, you know?
41:35When he was arrested, he only had two phones and a $10 bar.
41:38So it's kind of still, you know, the what-if,
41:41but something that we just won't know.
41:45Guadalupe's death was very tragic.
41:47From the victim's wife, Guadalupe was a hard-working man.
41:51Uh, he was a family man, loving husband, devoted father.
41:56So this is very tragic.
41:58And basically now his children will no longer have a father
42:01to-to raise them, but hopefully for his family.
42:05It's a good sense of relief knowing that a suspect
42:07has been identified and captured,
42:09giving the family closure, um, from this investigation.
42:42So this is more of a
42:44or perhaps for a prol mostra of a Rogério P From Dage.
42:44I don't care for anyone because it's fine,
42:44I tried to be patient, but for aная mother's two,
42:44It's hard to know Leave a requirement
42:47for the murder of Desire Void
42:48You
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