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00:11I was with the Prosecutor's Office for 30 years, and this was my last trial in my career.
00:19Being a prosecutor has a lifelong effect on you.
00:25There has to be some way to come back to humanity.
00:30Put the violence aside.
00:34This was an aggravated murder case. The victim's name is Gloria Choi.
00:40She was a hard-working mom, a good role model, and Gloria's parents talk about how she was
00:46kind of their angel. She spent most of her life working in the family business of running hotels.
00:53She came off very shy and quiet, but she was nothing of those.
00:59She was passionate about her family and her son, had hopes and dreams for herself.
01:06What we know is there were four calls placed to law enforcement in the final 48 hours before
01:14she was killed. This person continues to stalk her, has slashed her tires, has stolen thousands of dollars
01:21worth of property. She called for help, and she was deprived of help that she's entitled to under the law
01:28time and time again.
01:31The evening that she was murdered, she was going home, actually just taking a break to eat dinner.
01:37He was right behind her when she left.
01:40He knew everywhere she went.
01:43Now, what's the location right now?
01:44I don't know where I am, but I'm scared to get out of my car.
01:48He forced her vehicle off the road. She doesn't know at that point who this is,
01:54and she's not able to drive anymore.
01:57Let me get police on line with us, okay? Do you see a street sign?
02:00Are you a caller again?
02:00I'm right in front of the crew over there, I'll kill it.
02:04And he approaches her vehicle, and she notices he has a gun.
02:08He's got a caller.
02:09Please call.
02:10Hello, can you hear me?
02:11All of a sudden, we heard a rapid fire, about seven or eight shots, and he just unloaded.
02:18And I was just in shock, and saw him disappear, and I then ran over and called the police.
02:25There's a pickup there against the telephone pole with its lights on, motor running.
02:29I don't see anybody in it.
02:30So you heard three pops?
02:32No, we heard a lot more than that.
02:34So in all 14 shots, just riddles her car with bullets, right?
02:41He's close range. He's shooting right through her driver's side window.
02:48She should have been protected, and she wasn't.
02:51Do you blame the police for not taking better care of your friend?
02:55I do blame the police for not taking it seriously.
03:00You have a perpetrator who's escalating.
03:03Any law enforcement officer who's following the training would know this woman was in incredible danger.
03:24There liberally is no harm, but they are, it's the only law enforcement officer
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03:32Let's let's look at a dramatic lookout and plans.
03:32Hey, hombres will have reasons for the next grapes.
03:40For the taste of love can cure, chances of evil, they have to be useful.
03:57On January 2nd, 2022, Gloria Choi placed that anguished call to 911.
04:04I don't know where I am. I'm scared to get out of my car.
04:11Seconds later, multiple shots are fired. The audio is too graphic to play in full.
04:20It lasts about two minutes, and dispatchers are trying to make sense of what they just
04:25heard.
04:32Officers from the Lakewood Police Department in Washington arrive within minutes.
04:37One of the officers that approached, you can see him trying to get to her quickly, and
04:43the doors are locked.
04:45Former Pierce County Prosecutor Greg Greer describes what first responders did.
04:53They bust out a rear window, smartly, wisely, so they can preserve the evidence. And they're
05:01able to extricate her pretty quickly.
05:06And did you see them pull out the victim at all?
05:09I did.
05:10Yeah.
05:11Terry Estevold gave police a detailed description of what he witnessed.
05:16And I was probably 30 feet away. And they put her on the ground and worked on her hard for
05:22several minutes.
05:24Had to be hard for you to witness that.
05:26It's terrible. And it still bothers me a lot to this day, just thinking about it.
05:32Gloria was pronounced dead a short time later at a nearby hospital.
05:39Brianna Eberle soon heard the news that her best friend had been killed, but she couldn't
05:44quite accept it.
05:46And I repeatedly, repeatedly called Gloria's phone over and over again, no answer, no answer,
05:52no answer. And then I called her dad. And then he finally answered. And I remember asking
06:00him, is it true? Is she, is she gone? Is she, is it true? And he said, yeah, she's gone.
06:13Greer took us to the scene and walked us through what he learned from investigators.
06:19This would have been gravel shoulder. And somewhere in here, he pinches her vehicle off and she's
06:27no longer able to, to move forward. He's blocking her.
06:30I think my boyfriend's following me. He just hit my car.
06:35Gloria says the man is her boyfriend, but does not give a name.
06:41He gets out of the vehicle. And if you've heard the 911 call, she describes exactly what,
06:47what he's doing.
06:52Greer says the shooter was standing next to Gloria's driver's side window.
06:56The door was locked.
06:59He's not trying to talk to her. He immediately starts there to kill her.
07:02He is there to kill her.
07:04After firing 940 caliber bullets through the door and window of Gloria's truck, Greer says
07:11the shooter begins to drive away.
07:14As he does, Gloria's truck moves forward until it hits a utility pole, as shown in this police animation.
07:22Greer believes the truck moved because Gloria's foot was no longer applying pressure to the brake.
07:29He doesn't know whether she's alive or not is what we believe is going through his mind,
07:34because the vehicle's no longer where it was. That's 60 yards west of where it was when he first shot
07:39her.
07:39The shooter makes a U-turn and comes back around to Gloria's truck.
07:45He pulls his truck alongside so that his driver's side window is now next to hers.
07:51And this time, he does not bother to get out of his car, Greer says.
07:55And he rolls his window down five more shots just to make sure. Nine wasn't enough. Five more.
08:02Then after he's finished that, he immediately takes off.
08:05After firing 14 shots and hitting Gloria at least 10 times, prosecutors say the shooter disappears into the night.
08:17The first big break in the case came from one of the first officers at the crime scene.
08:22One of the officers, she notices this lanyard that's on Gloria and she sees her name and that hits her
08:29hard.
08:30Gloria's lanyard was from a nearby Holiday Inn where she was the manager.
08:35Just days earlier, that officer took a report from Gloria after she called 911.
08:42Gloria said her ex-boyfriend had been following and harassing her.
08:46And now they had a name, Billy Rickman.
08:51And that becomes a lead to understanding what happened.
08:56Greer says a detective subpoenaed Rickman's phone records.
08:59Even without having his phone, police were able to read his text messages.
09:05At one point, he says where he is, and it's the home motel.
09:11The detective rushed to the motel, which is a six-minute drive from the murder scene.
09:15Greer says the desk clerk told the detective that days earlier, Rickman attempted to sign in with a fake name.
09:22But the clerk insisted on proof of identity.
09:26We have him on surveillance video getting back to the motel.
09:31That was after the shooting, says prosecutor Corrine Schneff.
09:35He appears in a hurry.
09:37He gets out of his vehicle and he immediately starts wiping down the side of the vehicle that might have
09:43any kind of evidence of gunpowder residue.
09:46You can see him on the phone.
09:48He's contacting people.
09:52She says investigators began checking surveillance from several businesses in the area.
09:58And got another break at a nearby car rental business.
10:04This picture is very clear.
10:06Enterprise had great video.
10:08Here there's no denying who that is, looking at that.
10:13Rickman rented a Chevy Colorado using his real name.
10:16It is the same vehicle in the motel video.
10:19And the same vehicle police believe Rickman used to run Gloria off the road.
10:25The Lakewood police put out an alert for Billy Rickman.
10:29But in the days that followed, he was nowhere to be found.
10:51She was a part of my family.
10:53My whole family knew her and they loved her.
10:55With Billy Rickman on the run, police questioned Gloria's friend Brianna Eberle about Rickman's relationship with Gloria.
11:03Brianna had known Gloria since 2018 when she hired her to help out at the Oyo Hotel, which was owned
11:11by Gloria's parents.
11:13She wanted to please her parents to the best of her ability.
11:16She was their lifeline.
11:18She did it all.
11:19And she did it all with grace.
11:21Absolute grace.
11:23Gloria was the single mother of a seven year old.
11:26It's all about her kid.
11:28She was very fierce when it came to her son.
11:32And in May 2021, Billy Rickman checked into the hotel from California.
11:37A mystery man with a larger than life personality.
11:42Brianna says it didn't take long for Rickman to notice Gloria.
11:47Gloria was coming into the office.
11:49He walked up and introduced himself.
11:53And he's like, you're very pretty.
11:55And she goes, well, thank you.
11:57She walked away and he's like, who's that?
11:59And I'm like, her name's Gloria.
12:01Stay away.
12:03But Rickman did not stay away.
12:05And before long, the two were texting a lot.
12:10She liked the way he talked to her and the things that he said to her.
12:14All she wanted to do is be loved by somebody.
12:18And Rickman made it seem like he could be that guy, says Megan Driscoll, the Choi family's lawyer.
12:24He really came across as this nice guy.
12:27Love-bombed her, meaning he's giving her gifts and kind of showering her with kindness.
12:34Weeks after meeting her, Rickman sent Gloria this text.
12:38You're the light to my day every day.
12:41You make me feel so sexy and special.
12:44And I thank you for that.
12:45I want you.
12:47I want to be with you, Gloria Choi.
12:49I can't wait to see what life has in store for us.
12:52My heart is yours.
12:55How was he with her son?
12:57Gloria's friend, Jacob Blue.
12:59What she liked about Rickman is that he had a lot of masculine energy that he was showing them.
13:05Billy and her son had a very instant connection.
13:08Because he was like a kid himself, you know?
13:12Within weeks, Gloria and Rickman became a couple.
13:15And he began staying in her apartment at the Oyo Hotel.
13:18Brianna says Gloria's father did not approve of the relationship.
13:24And her parents basically drew a red line and said he can't be staying here at the hotel anymore.
13:31Gloria's father wanted him to move out.
13:33And Rickman went and approached her parents and told them he's not going anywhere and that Gloria is now his.
13:42And if they don't like it, they can leave.
13:45Wow.
13:48Her dad basically gave her an ultimatum.
13:51She could stay on as a manager or she could leave.
13:56And she chose to leave.
13:59Gloria, her son, and Rickman moved to an apartment in the town of Tumwater in September 2021.
14:07And her heartbroken parents chose to sell their hotel.
14:15That's when Gloria took a new job as manager of the Holiday Inn Express in Lakewood, right next to Tacoma.
14:22She was still very happy with what she had, but it didn't last long, that happiness.
14:29Gloria told Brianna that Rickman had big dreams, but no way of making them come true.
14:35And Gloria's like, well, who's going to fund all of this?
14:38You're not.
14:39You don't have a job.
14:41Get a job, you know.
14:43And he refused.
14:44So was he asking her for money?
14:46Oh, yeah.
14:47He drained her.
14:49She bought everything.
14:53Within weeks, Gloria saw a different side of Rickman.
14:56She told Brianna he was often mean, angry and insecure.
15:01Gloria also told Brianna that Rickman was drinking to excess and using cocaine and marijuana.
15:09What did you tell her?
15:10Leave.
15:12Run away.
15:14Gloria chose to stay with Rickman.
15:16But two months later, in November, Jacob says he got a troubling call.
15:21She did express that he would become physical with her, push her around, throw her around, and that she didn't
15:29feel safe just breaking things off with him.
15:34Jacob told Gloria she needed to leave him immediately.
15:37But Gloria said she was afraid that might trigger something inside Rickman.
15:41She didn't know how she was going to leave Billy.
15:46She was scared to leave him.
15:48What scared her?
15:49Possessiveness.
15:50He knew everywhere she went.
15:53She felt that he was tracking her every move.
15:56She found a tag in her car.
16:00An AirTag?
16:01Mm-hmm.
16:02She's the one that told me about it later on.
16:06And Gloria suspected there were other hidden Apple AirTags in her truck.
16:11Are you concerned for your friend at this point?
16:14Absolutely.
16:15In November 2021, just six months after they met, Brianna says Gloria made up her mind to leave Rickman.
16:23She looked at me dead in the face and said, I'm leaving.
16:27And I asked her, you know, what's your plan?
16:30She goes, I'm going to go to my parents.
16:32Her parents welcomed Gloria and her son into their home.
16:40But it was not so easy to get rid of Rickman.
16:43He had borrowed Gloria's truck and refused to give it back.
16:47So on November 28th, Gloria went to the Tumwater police to file a report about the truck.
16:54And while she was there, she told the officer taking the report about Rickman.
17:00When Billy is sober, he is calm.
17:02But when he drinks, he has a short fuse and is very angry.
17:06I wish him well, but choosing to not be a part of his life anymore for the safety and stability
17:12for my son and I.
17:15Attorney Megan Driscoll, who represents the Choi family, said it was clear the Tumwater officer believed Gloria was at risk.
17:23The officer reported that Rickman was potentially tracking Gloria with Apple Air tags, owned numerous firearms and appeared to be
17:32extremely manipulative.
17:34He actually becomes really concerned for her and her safety.
17:38So the officer actually tells Gloria and tells the court to issue a domestic violence no-contact order.
17:46Almost immediately, Rickman was arrested for taking Gloria's truck, and he agreed to this recorded interview.
17:54It's both of our cars. Like, we live together. It's not like I'm a neighbor or something.
17:59What do you think her opinion is of you when you drink it?
18:01She doesn't like it.
18:02Do you think, like, maybe she might feel, like, uncomfortable or scared?
18:06I'll tell you this much. If I had a shot with my girl again, man, I would never drink another
18:11trick of alcohol.
18:12And that's the honest-to-God truth.
18:15Rickman was jailed for three days for taking Gloria's truck.
18:19And on December 1, 2021, he was brought before a judge who slapped him with a strict no-contact order.
18:27But Brianna says the order did not faze Rickman.
18:31The day he got out of jail, he told Brianna he was unconcerned with the legalities.
18:37He didn't care.
18:39He was like, so?
18:42I'm still going to talk to her.
19:01In early December 2021, Gloria Choi was back living with her parents, hoping she had rid herself of Billy Rickman
19:09once and for all.
19:10But Brianna said Rickman had other ideas as he told her the day he got out of jail for taking
19:16Gloria's truck, which had been returned to her.
19:19Billy showed up at my place and he's like, I need your help.
19:24And he begged me to talk to her about getting back together.
19:29He said that he would change.
19:31He, you know, would stop drinking.
19:33He would be a better person to her.
19:35And in the back of my mind, I'm like, no.
19:37You didn't believe him then?
19:38I didn't.
19:39And what's your understanding of a no contact order?
19:42No contact order means you can't come and contact that person.
19:45Text, phone calls, physical location, anything of that sort.
19:49And if you do, what happens?
19:51You go to jail.
19:53Brianna told Rickman that he'd be arrested if he broke any of those conditions.
19:58But two weeks later, she got a call from a friend telling her Gloria was hiding from Rickman in the
20:04bathroom of this coffee shop.
20:06Brianna wasted no time getting there.
20:09As I was pulling in, I saw Billy Rickman's car was parked over there.
20:16We made eye contact.
20:19I went to the bathroom and knocked on the door and she opened it.
20:23She knew that Billy was here.
20:25It was another reminder to Gloria that Rickman seemed to be tracking her every move.
20:31And you said she was very emotional, locked into the bathroom.
20:35She was petrified.
20:36She was crying.
20:36She was shaking.
20:38She refused to come out until she knew he was gone.
20:42It's not clear if police were ever called.
20:47Three days later, Brianna said that Gloria told her that Rickman confronted her in the Capitol Mall while she was
20:54shopping with her son.
20:56Brianna said Gloria told her that Rickman pleaded with her to drop the no contact order.
21:02But she refused.
21:05He was putting himself in her path so that he could rekindle the lost relationship.
21:09That lost relationship, says Prosecutor Corrine Schneff, was on Rickman's mind when he made these cell phone videos directed at
21:18Gloria.
21:19You can see the videos that he created to try and make her feel bad about leaving him.
21:25This is what Christmas alone looks like.
21:27The parking lot of the hotel because you ain't got nowhere to go because, you know, your girl puts you
21:32out in the street.
21:35Prosecutors say everything came to a head on the last two days of 2021.
21:41It started on December 30th when Rickman sent Gloria an email after he spotted her with Jacob Blue at a
21:48coffee shop.
21:49And I guess Rickman did write an email to Gloria that read, you left me for another guy. Wow.
21:55Correct.
21:56The email was sent in real time and Gloria began getting calls from a blocked number.
22:02When she answered, Rickman was on the line yelling at her according to Jacob.
22:07He believed that this Jacob Blue was a, you know, potential boyfriend.
22:12They moved on to a sushi restaurant, but Gloria was becoming increasingly bothered by the headlights of a car,
22:19which were pointed at the restaurant.
22:21And Jacob says Gloria believed Rickman was behind the wheel.
22:25She says, I know that car and I know that it's watching us right now.
22:30And she got really uncomfortable.
22:32Jacob says they left the restaurant and discovered someone had stolen their computers from Gloria's truck.
22:39They also discovered one of her truck's tires was slashed.
22:44Gloria called the police and asked for their help.
22:47It was the first of four calls about Rickman over a 48-hour period.
22:53And what did he damage?
22:55Um, my front driver's side tire.
22:58And he went through all the stuff in the truck and stole my backpack with my laptop
23:03and my friend's laptop bag as well.
23:06Okay.
23:07I'll have an officer call you.
23:08And did Gloria express that she thought it was Rickman?
23:11She was confident it was Rickman.
23:14Gloria told police that only Rickman knew the truck's keypad code to gain entry.
23:19She gave them a description of his black BMW and told the officer about the no contact order.
23:26The officer said he left Rickman a voicemail message, letting him know the police wanted to speak with him.
23:33Gloria and Jacob then drove to the Holiday Inn to retrieve Jacob's Jeep.
23:38And that's when Jacob discovered that two of his tires had been slashed.
23:43This is a snowy night.
23:45There's snow on the ground.
23:46Gloria took this cell phone video following the footsteps she thought were Rickman's.
23:52Here is his footsteps.
23:57Because Gloria managed that Holiday Inn, she was able to get the surveillance footage.
24:03These videos have never been seen by the public before now.
24:07We see a man come in and sneaking through the shadows.
24:12He comes up to my Jeep and he punctures both my tires and walks off.
24:17They called police a second time and gave them the video.
24:21Both Jacob and Gloria identified the man as Billy Rickman by his distinctive walk.
24:27But officers said the video was not clear enough to make an arrest.
24:31And the police were like, I'm sorry.
24:33Without us being able to see his face, there's really not a whole lot to go off of.
24:38Not much we can do.
24:41The next day was December 31st, New Year's Eve.
24:45Jacob returned to his Jeep with two new tires.
24:47That's when he and Gloria discovered the other two tires were now slashed.
24:53That prompted a third call to 911.
24:56What are you reporting?
24:58Vandalism on my vehicle by a stalker.
25:03Once again, the surveillance footage showed the man Jacob and Gloria believed was Rickman slashing the tires.
25:11But police again said the video was not clear enough for them to make an identification.
25:18Then on New Year's Eve, there was a fourth call to 911, this time by the desk clerk at the
25:25Holiday Inn.
25:26He spotted the tire slasher again, puncturing the tires on Jacob's Jeep.
25:32The desk clerk chased after him, recording this video at the same time he was calling 911.
25:39He took all of his license plates off.
25:41He's driving a Chevy Colorado.
25:43He's got one right now.
25:45Police say Rickman was driving that same Chevy Colorado when he ran Gloria off the road, murdered her, then escaped
25:55into the night.
26:08Billy Rickman was able to elude police for four days until January 6th, 2022.
26:15That's when prosecutor Greg Greer says law enforcement tracked his phone to Humboldt County in Northern California,
26:23where Rickman turned up drunk at a relative's house.
26:27This relative did not want Mr. Rickman staying with him.
26:30This relative offered to take Mr. Rickman to a nearby casino and put him up at the casino in a
26:38hotel.
26:38Rickman's relative driving his black BMW was stopped by tribal police and they contacted the California Highway Patrol who rushed
26:48to the scene.
26:49Police say Rickman, as seen in this dash cam video, shoved his relative out of the driver's seat and onto
26:56the pavement, gunned the engine and took off.
27:00He's got enough of a head start and they actually don't find him. They lose him.
27:05Rickman wandered around in the darkness for about five hours on the wet, cold night before being found and taken
27:13into custody.
27:14Mr. Rickman is soaking wet, freezing cold, hypothermic.
27:19Rickman was charged with aggravated first degree murder and pleaded not guilty.
27:26Some 250 miles south, a woman who says she knew firsthand just how dangerous Rickman was received a phone call.
27:36The officer from the Oakland Police Department called me and when I answered the phone, she told me Billy has
27:41been arrested.
27:42This is Aja Houle, who had filed a police report about Rickman.
27:47She says Rickman forced her into prostitution and sexually assaulted her when she was a 14 year old runaway living
27:55in Oakland in 2005.
27:57I'm a survivor of human trafficking and Billy Rickman was my trafficker.
28:02Aja says she endured years of abuse before she nearly was killed after Rickman choked her with a strand of
28:09Christmas tree lights.
28:11Like I could not breathe. Like it was very scary. I was terrified.
28:16She escaped to San Francisco.
28:19It was one of the best moments in my life, but also one of the most terrifying because I felt
28:25free.
28:26But I also felt so much fear because I had crossed him and I knew what he was capable of.
28:33Shortly after leaving, Aja called a girlfriend who was living with Rickman.
28:38He took the phone out of her hand when I called her to check on her once and said, bitch,
28:42if I ever find you, I will kill you.
28:45And I knew that he meant it. I never, ever saw that as a threat.
28:48Like I saw that as a promise because he would, he would kill me. He was livid.
28:53Aja says she always wanted justice, but it was only while completing her education and pursuing a master's degree in
29:00public affairs from the University of California at Berkeley that she found the courage to file that report with the
29:06Oakland police.
29:07It detailed multiple alleged incidents of Rickman's abuse, including hitting her with closed fists on the face and body and
29:16causing her to sustain a black eye, bruises and cuts to the face.
29:21I wanted him held accountable for what he did.
29:24Oakland police put out an arrest warrant for Rickman in 2021 in Alameda County, but by that time he had
29:32left California.
29:34Washington state prosecutors say they never saw the warrant.
29:37I was angry and upset because he could have been stopped beforehand.
29:42I blame myself in some kind of way.
29:44But Aja still wanted to help.
29:47She emailed the prosecutors working on the Gloria Choi murder and offered to give them information about Rickman.
29:54But prosecutors demurred, saying they wanted to keep their case focused on Gloria's murder.
30:01That wasn't really part of our case, so we didn't follow up on that particular element.
30:08Rickman's trial for the murder of Gloria Choi began in November 2023 before a jury of nine men and three
30:16women.
30:18Gloria's family were too devastated to attend the trial.
30:22They moved out of town without a word and we didn't get to say goodbye, but I understood why.
30:32Prosecutor Greer wanted the jury to understand why as well.
30:36So he played Gloria's 911 call in its entirety right after the opening statements.
30:44What's the location, sir?
30:48I don't know where I am, but I think my boyfriend's following me.
30:52You could tell the whole courtroom was, you know, different while that was being played.
31:00The prosecution methodically laid out its case to the jury with all the audio and video evidence they'd collected.
31:08What you're about to see is a compilation of information from the defendant's cell phone,
31:15as well as surveillance videos that we have at the various locations.
31:20What you're going to see first is some GPS coordinates.
31:23Schnepp says Rickman could no longer follow Gloria after he slashed Gloria's tires and put her truck with those air
31:30tags out of commission.
31:32As soon as he slashed the tires on Gloria's vehicle, he could no longer track her.
31:37Rickman was forced to more or less guess where Gloria was.
31:41And in the days that followed, Schnepp says he spent a lot of time sitting outside her parents' house where
31:47she was living.
31:48So all of this is breaking this no-contact order, right?
31:52Yeah, he, probably every letter of the no-contact order, he violated.
31:57He's just constantly going back to her house.
32:01Is she there? Is she at her house?
32:03It's crazy to see this like this.
32:06Sometime around 6 p.m. on January 2nd, the night of Gloria's murder, Schnepp says Rickman turned off his cell
32:14phone
32:14and didn't turn it back on until he was at the home motel immediately after the murder.
32:20The fact that he doesn't turn his phone off except for at the time point of the murder helps us
32:27to show that it was him.
32:29To buttress their case, prosecutors put Brianna Eberly on the stand.
32:35I remember looking over at him, seeing him look at her picture.
32:40He started to cry.
32:42And I remember it made me so angry.
32:46I had never felt so furious in my life.
32:51Billy didn't just take Gloria's physical life.
32:56Billy took everything.
32:58He took a daughter, a mother, a friend, a sister, a cousin.
33:06He took it all in a blink of an eye with no, no regard.
33:15The loss of Gloria Choi weighed heavily on Greg Greer as the prosecution ended.
33:21He knew this was going to be the last case of his career.
33:24He was surveilling.
33:26He was stalking.
33:27He was hunting that night.
33:30Absolutely.
33:31And Greg Greer was confident he'd proven that to the jury.
33:44When it was time to present Billy Rickman's defense, his lawyer did not call any witnesses and did not put
33:51Rickman on the stand.
33:52He argued in his closing that investigators failed to look at any other possible suspects, said prosecutor Greg Greer.
34:00The defense tried to make a case that somebody else did it.
34:07Rickman's defense attorney told jurors that the police investigation was incomplete because Gloria never named Rickman on her 911 call.
34:17And instead described the person who hit her car only as her boyfriend.
34:22I think my boyfriend's following me.
34:24He just hit my car.
34:26The trial lasted two weeks.
34:29It only took the jury about two hours to reach their verdict.
34:33Guilty of aggravated murder.
34:36Rickman was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
34:42Law enforcement didn't take any steps to locate or arrest Rickman in the days before Gloria's death.
34:48Gloria's parents believe Gloria should still be alive, says Megan Driscoll.
34:53She has filed a wrongful death suit on behalf of Gloria's son against the city of Lakewood and its police
35:00department.
35:01They wanted accountability for what happened to their daughter and their sister and their loved one.
35:07And they believed that it was mismanaged and mishandled by law enforcement.
35:13This woman was deprived of justice and should not have been killed.
35:19Driscoll says one of the ironies of the case is that the prosecution used Rickman's egregious stalking as evidence to
35:26help them secure the homicide conviction.
35:29So that very same evidence that was presented in the homicide trial, you're now using your wrongful death lawsuit to
35:36show what you believe is the Lakewood police not doing their jobs.
35:41Right. I mean, this death was incredibly foreseeable.
35:47And we know that from the prosecution, we know that the jury convicted him.
35:51This wasn't a mystery of who did this or why.
35:55It was as foreseeable as it was preventable.
35:58You're focused on Lakewood police and what they did and did not do.
36:04So outline for us what should they have done, plain and simple.
36:10Lakewood PD should have found Rickman and arrested him to protect Gloria.
36:22My name is Russ Hicks. I'm a retired law enforcement officer.
36:26I was a lead instructor for domestic violence for many years.
36:29Russ Hicks was hired by Driscoll as an expert witness, in part because he has a special connection to the
36:36case.
36:37So I know they received the proper training because I was their instructor at the police academy.
36:42And I taught the three officers that were involved in this case.
36:46And Hicks says those officers failed Gloria.
36:50One example, one of the Lakewood officers says he left a voicemail for Rickman, which Hicks considers a mistake.
36:58I think it conveys a message that we're not taking this seriously and we're not looking for you, just saying
37:03that we'd like to talk to you.
37:04And the sad irony of it is when you call a domestic violence perpetrator like Rickman, that actually just escalates
37:12the danger to the victim even more.
37:14That officer says he drove around looking for Rickman's BMW.
37:19But Driscoll says there is no police record of that.
37:23Driscoll also says Gloria told the officer she believed Rickman was staying at a nearby motel.
37:29And as it turned out, the home motel is only a six minute walk from the Holiday Inn.
37:34It would have been so easy to find him because he was there to be found.
37:41Driscoll also says officers failed Gloria by not following up on the detailed description of the truck Rickman was driving
37:49given to them by the desk clerk at the Holiday Inn.
37:56In normal law enforcement practice, they should send out a bolo or be on the lookout saying this is a
38:02base Chevy Colorado, broken taillights, look for this guy.
38:06They didn't do that.
38:07He was half a block away.
38:10Some 48 hours before her murder, Driscoll says Gloria gave one of the officers a comprehensive seven page document.
38:18In it, Gloria details the many times she said Rickman violated the no contact order, his emails, his calls and
38:27a still frame from one of the Holiday Inn videos.
38:30Even with that report in hand, Driscoll says police took no action.
38:36They had everything they needed and more to arrest him.
38:41In addressing the Choi family's wrongful death lawsuit, a city lawyer told a judge in January 2025 the police have
38:50no obligation to go and arrest someone like Rickman if he is not at the scene.
38:56At that hearing, the judge asked the city's lawyer, a police officer could still sit back and do nothing in
39:04response to a complaint by a domestic violence victim because there's no duty to look for the abuser?
39:10The city's lawyer answered, that's correct.
39:14John Justice, the attorney representing the city and the Lakewood Police Department, said he could not comment on pending litigation.
39:29Tell me a little bit about how she changed your life.
39:32She always reminded me that I was a good person, no matter what, and that I was a good mom
39:38because I doubted myself a lot.
39:42And she reminded me every day that I was good.
39:44How much did that change you in your self-worth?
39:49So much. More than I could probably describe. It gave me hope.
39:59Prosecutor Greg Greer retired in 2024.
40:02He's still trying to, in his words, find his way back to humanity and forget the violence that surrounded him
40:11for so many years.
40:12But he's still haunted by Gloria's last words on that 911 call.
40:19I did learn the Korean language while I was in the Air Force, and I could hear very clearly Gloria
40:25calling for her mother.
40:26And what is the word that you hear?
40:28It's Uma, Oma, and she's just frantically, desperation, calling for her mother.
40:37Tells you a lot about human nature, and it's one of the saddest things you'll ever hear.
41:10The End
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