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Killer Confessions: Case Files of a Texas Ranger - Season 1 - Episode 01: Pathologically Evil
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00:00:07the search for Jessica Cain widened today. Following further investigation at the crime
00:00:13scene, police reported another grim finding. In the late 90s, there were a number of unsolved
00:00:22murders up and down the Interstate 45 corridor. 19-year-old newlywed Tiffany Johnston's Dodge
00:00:29Neon found abandoned. Unsolved disappearances of young women. The 12-year-old who was homeschooled
00:00:36was last seen around 9 in the morning. The different girls that go missing sends the entire
00:00:43state of Texas into an uproar. 600 U.S. Marines joined the search. As more girls disappear,
00:00:53young women had to have been terrified going anywhere by themselves. A 19-year-old Webster
00:01:00woman was abducted along NASA Road 1 by a man driving a truck. Every time the phone rings,
00:01:06I think maybe I'm going to hear, Mom, come get me. We got a person of interest. This guy had
00:01:12been
00:01:12interviewed by multiple agencies over the years. Ultimately, he wasn't ever charged. Every lead had
00:01:17been exhausted with no one having a clue as to where these young women were. We were looking for help.
00:01:28We needed the best of the best to solve a case that we all wanted to solve.
00:01:35It takes a personality bigger than life to get to where you need to be.
00:01:40There wasn't going to be anybody that's going to be able to walk in there and get the job
00:01:45done except for one person. At the end of the day, the best chance to get him to talk was
00:01:52me.
00:02:17Friendswood was a quiet, sleepy,
00:02:19countrified town. It was voted one of the top 10 safest towns to live in America.
00:02:28We never used to lock our front door. We were just a normal American family, just living our lives.
00:02:36My husband, Bob, Laura, my daughter, 12 years old. Her nine-year-old brother, David,
00:02:44Laura was very involved with ballet. So there was lots of little ballet productions
00:02:49that she was in.
00:02:54That morning, we woke up around 7.30. David wanted pancakes for breakfast.
00:03:00And Laura came through and said, Mom, I want to go on a run.
00:03:05I said, well, okay, but breakfast is in about 20 minutes, so be home for that.
00:03:10And she took off.
00:03:1330 minutes later, the pancakes were on the table.
00:03:16She wasn't there.
00:03:19Bob immediately went out in his car and he went looking for her, came back and said,
00:03:25she's no way around.
00:03:27By then, gosh, I really began to panic.
00:03:35The Friendswood Police Department had received a call shortly after 9 o'clock in the morning.
00:03:40Officers were dispatched out to the residence of the Smithers House,
00:03:44where they start taking a missing person report.
00:03:47That little 12-year-old girl figuring out if they could possibly locate her.
00:03:51That first morning is just this blur of searching and looking and not finding.
00:03:57And then the terror that took hold, that we knew something was really radically wrong.
00:04:07We were making pancakes and she was going to be home for breakfast.
00:04:11She just wanted to make the toast.
00:04:13When she didn't return, her parents immediately began searching the neighborhood
00:04:16and making flyers with her picture.
00:04:19The outpouring of volunteers to come out was absolutely incredible.
00:04:24There are signs all over Friendswood.
00:04:27And at the search command post, officials have had no problem finding volunteers
00:04:31to help comb the miles and miles of brush near the place where the Lord was last seen.
00:04:38That just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger from all types of organizations,
00:04:43including a group of several hundred Marines with helicopters, tanks.
00:04:53I told myself a story that somebody was holding Laura
00:04:58and that if I prayed hard enough, she'd come home to us.
00:05:02I just wouldn't accept any other scenario.
00:05:07We are going to find her.
00:05:10And we hold, we hold strong in our faith to that.
00:05:30The first indication that something is happening is a couple of Bethany officers driving by the Sunshine Car Wash
00:05:39and seeing an empty vehicle there.
00:05:44And a while later, come back, see that same vehicle, still no one around it.
00:05:49So, officers go to look at this vehicle, see if they can't figure out who it belongs to.
00:05:57The Bethany police called and wanted to know if I knew a Tiffany Johnston.
00:06:05And I said, yes, that's my daughter.
00:06:07Well, we found her car unattended at the car wash.
00:06:11Do you know where she's at?
00:06:14And I go, no.
00:06:17That day, I talked to Tiffany.
00:06:19She said, I'm going to get my car cleaned up and I'll talk to you later.
00:06:25And I said, okay, I love you.
00:06:26And she said, I love you.
00:06:28That was the last time I talked to her.
00:06:35There is nothing that is found in that vehicle that would give anyone an indication that something violent had happened
00:06:40there.
00:06:41No blood, no signs of struggle, nothing broken.
00:06:44Car looks like literally someone was in the middle of washing it and then just disappeared.
00:06:54I had a bad feeling.
00:06:57She would never leave her new car because she was so proud of it.
00:07:02Something wasn't right.
00:07:03It wasn't right.
00:07:10About 8.30, the detective showed up to tell us that they had found Tiffany's body.
00:07:23The families wanted to know what happened to their loved ones.
00:07:26At the park in the center of town, residents turn out for a candlelight vigil.
00:07:31Unfortunately, that went on for years where they were unsolved cases.
00:07:41Some investigators with Oklahoma called me and said they had some DNA.
00:07:45And they believed it was a match to William Reese.
00:07:48Somebody that had been investigated several times for kidnappings, for sexual assaults.
00:07:53When Oklahoma retested some of their evidence in the Tiffany Johnston case, they had William Reese looking good DNA-wise.
00:08:04William Reese originally gets caught in the 80s after committing two sexual assaults.
00:08:10And so, you see him going to prison in 1986, and he gets out at the end of October of
00:08:171996.
00:08:24So, when you're talking about the different girls that go missing between April and October of 1997, this is all
00:08:34in a half year span.
00:08:37When William Reese was out of prison.
00:08:42I mean, I mean, it sounds bad because they got me set up like I'm a serial killer right now.
00:08:50I mean, I don't know how many times I have to keep telling people this.
00:08:55I did not do it.
00:08:57William Reese was a predator.
00:09:02Reese's hunting ground, honestly, I would say it was wherever the opportunity opened up to him.
00:09:11That's maybe the scariest part about William Reese.
00:09:16He is constantly looking for the scenario where he can isolate a young girl.
00:09:21where he can get her by herself.
00:09:25And at that point, it's too late.
00:09:28He truly thought that he was pretty smart.
00:09:30He thought he was untouchable.
00:09:32People like him is why we have to tell our kids be careful because they are our boogeymen and he
00:09:37is a true boogeyman.
00:09:42We got married in 1984.
00:09:51I got pregnant and we had a son.
00:09:55When you're 18 and 19, you're young and you're foolish and you don't think things through.
00:10:01Call me a coward.
00:10:02I didn't want to believe he did this stuff.
00:10:05He told me that none of that happened.
00:10:08He said it was a lie.
00:10:11He'd be so convincing that you're thinking, well, maybe I did see it wrong.
00:10:15You know, maybe I'm just seeing things.
00:10:18We know that he's a sex offender.
00:10:21The question was, was he a killer?
00:10:24So Reese had been a suspect in these cases over the course of the years.
00:10:30Have a seat.
00:10:32The problem was, there was just never enough evidence to actually charge him with any of these crimes.
00:10:39You know, this guy had been interviewed by multiple agencies over the years.
00:10:43He's talked to the sheriff's department.
00:10:45He's talked to police departments.
00:10:46He's talked to the state police.
00:10:48I believe the FBI has even come in and talked to him over the years.
00:10:51Shut him down.
00:10:54We did feel that Tiffany's case was the best shot at getting William Reese.
00:11:00He'd been in prison all of this time since late 97, but that sentence was coming to a close.
00:11:08So we're at the point where it's time to do something or William Reese is going to get out of
00:11:14prison.
00:11:21This was going to come down to the interview, okay?
00:11:23It had to be the right guy to do the interview.
00:11:26And it had to be someone that was willing to take the risk, because if it didn't work out, you
00:11:31know, that person was going to be to blame.
00:11:33Enter Jim Holland, the Texas Ranger.
00:11:38Jimmy Holland is known for being able to get confessions.
00:11:43So I reached out to Jimmy and told him what I was working on.
00:11:47And he said, I sure would like to be the one to do the interview on William Reese.
00:11:53When I first met Jim Holland, my first reaction was, who the hell is this guy?
00:12:00He comes in with his cowboy hat, his white pressed shirt.
00:12:06Jimmy's one of the most arrogant people I know.
00:12:09And coming from a line of Rangers, that says a lot.
00:12:12I would describe Jim Holland as one of the most confident individuals I have ever met in my life.
00:12:19At the time, I looked at it with a little bit of skepticism.
00:12:25Hey, I'm sure you are good at what you do.
00:12:29But frankly, I don't really have time for bravado.
00:13:10To get ready for the interview with William Reese, I spent months going through his background, watching interviews, reading courtroom
00:13:17testimony, studying forensic reports.
00:13:21Anything and everything I could think of that would give me some type of advantage once I got into the
00:13:26room with him.
00:13:27And you start seeing the personality of this predator, of this monster.
00:13:33You have all these missing women in this short timeframe before, and he goes to prison.
00:13:38And you have the suspect who fits the epitome of the profile of a serial killer.
00:13:43His prison sentence in Texas is coming to a close.
00:13:49And that was a scary concept.
00:13:51For the last 20 years, people had been trying to get Reese to talk.
00:13:56If this last attempt to get something to work failed, then I'm not sure where we would go after that.
00:14:05Jim Holland, the Texas Rangers, February 9th, 2016.
00:14:10Time is now 2.46 p.m.
00:14:14I was unsure what would happen when they started talking.
00:14:18William Reese knows the ropes.
00:14:20He knows the game.
00:14:22And he's won the game.
00:14:23Is he going to divulge anything to you?
00:14:26I mean, he's locked up. He don't have to tell you squat.
00:14:29But Jim, he has a way of doing some things that the average investigator, I don't care how much they
00:14:36train, they're not going to get it.
00:14:43What I was going to say is this, but he wouldn't mind visiting for just a little bit.
00:14:49All right.
00:14:50Reese got this cavalier air to him, confidence, strut, assured of who he is.
00:15:18You know, I think listening to that was typical Jimmy Holland BS about how great he is, the special ranger
00:15:26stuff.
00:15:26He wasn't even a Texas ranger. He was a special Texas ranger. I don't know what that is.
00:15:31With somebody like William, he's interviewing you as much as Jimmy was interviewing him to figure out if he was
00:15:38worthy of his time.
00:15:40And all I do is not go foul cases. I'm not doing the little stuff. I don't give anybody to
00:15:44cooperate, sexual assault. I'm doing it.
00:15:46I'll do real stuff.
00:15:48The higher that I can lift myself up in importance and significance to them, the more likely they are to
00:15:56share information with me because they start seeing me closing in on their level of significance.
00:16:03Want to go to the bathroom? Do you want to get something to drink?
00:16:05Something hot? Coffee?
00:16:07One of the biggest mistakes that investigators make stepping in the room is ignoring the significance of rapport.
00:16:15So Ranger Jeter had gotten a DNA sample from Reese about a year before, and that was one of the
00:16:21reasons that he was there.
00:16:23And he comes into that room.
00:16:26I thought he was pretty good when I first saw him.
00:16:29That's when I thought the same thing.
00:16:31No offense.
00:16:33Exactly.
00:16:35Reese gravitates to making fun of Ranger Jeter.
00:16:40He starts kind of poking at him about him being a pretty boy ranger.
00:16:44And I piggybacked that. I jumped on it.
00:16:46You know that about 12 years ago, I had not been a fireless guy.
00:16:51I had the chance to run him off, and every day I regret the fact that I didn't do that.
00:16:55You are.
00:16:56I'm just a pretty boy.
00:16:59And Reese seemed to really like that.
00:17:01And one of the things that I know about him, or his persona, is that he really enjoys putting other
00:17:09people down, and he sees himself as better than others.
00:17:13And Ranger Jeter played into it, and as soon as he saw that rapport was built, he found an exit.
00:17:19He's showing a disconnect between me and him, and he's trying to earn the respect of William.
00:17:27Everything's about respect in prison.
00:17:28I'm a big proponent of options and choices, and today I have a very unique opportunity for you.
00:17:36If you want to open a book to your life right now, I have it right here.
00:17:42Chapter number one, you ready for it?
00:17:44Yeah.
00:17:47Why are you here today?
00:17:52Why aren't you here today?
00:17:56For your school.
00:18:12Father and son were out with their dog in a kind of a remote area, and they smelt and then
00:18:19saw what they initially thought was going to be, you know, an animal.
00:18:24And then gets closer to the area and sees that it looks like, you know, a body.
00:18:31Pasadena police cordoned off an area along Preston Road after they got a call that a body had been found
00:18:37in a retention pond at the mouth of a metal culvert.
00:18:40Investigators say it appears to be a young white female, 7 to 15 years old.
00:18:47Her body was partially submerged.
00:18:50She still had the rings that were located, had her initials on the rings, LK, S, and the only clothing
00:18:57that she had on her that was recovered were her two socks.
00:19:02It is the opinion of my department and its investigators and myself as its chief that the young woman found
00:19:09is Laura Kate Smither.
00:19:15And the police chief arrived at our house around noon to tell us that it was Laura.
00:19:24And that's one of my recurring nightmares is them telling us that.
00:19:32Our world ended then.
00:19:35Everything changed.
00:19:36Our life was full of laughter and joy and silliness.
00:19:46Normal family stuff.
00:19:49After that day, our world became silent.
00:19:58Laura was really the sweetest child.
00:20:01She was very creative, very imaginative.
00:20:06She loved playing make-believe when she was little.
00:20:09And then as she got older, going to school, she started going to dance class.
00:20:16She really loved the ballet.
00:20:19She had that reserved nature, but on stage she just lit up.
00:20:28There was no determination about how she died.
00:20:31None of those things could be determined because she was decomposed so bad.
00:20:37Early on, there were several witnesses that had seen Laura on the roadway, jogging towards Moore Road.
00:20:43When they were canvassed in the area and started backtracking on everything, they learned that William Reese was a construction
00:20:49worker doing bulldozer work in the area.
00:20:53And his criminal history showed that he just had been released from the state of Oklahoma for kidnapping.
00:21:00When Billy got out, I helped him get a vehicle.
00:21:04I helped him get a job.
00:21:06I was trying to help him get started.
00:21:08Still with the hope of maybe he's changed.
00:21:12William Reese was requested to come to the station for an interview.
00:21:22Have a seat.
00:21:24Billy was a fantastic liar.
00:21:26He could lie with passion.
00:21:28He could lie, I mean, and make you believe him.
00:21:31It's like, do you believe your lying eyes or do you believe me?
00:21:40I spent quite a bit of time studying the 1997 interview.
00:21:44And I'm specifically looking for towels or anything that would open the door and do his psyche and help me
00:21:50to understand him.
00:21:55Let's talk about April the 2nd, the day that Laura was missing.
00:22:00Okay.
00:22:02Yeah.
00:22:03It was raining at once.
00:22:04We got rained out.
00:22:05And he said, we still get two hours, you know, for show-up time.
00:22:10Reese says, and his boss tells him to go ahead and clean off his dozer blades and go home for
00:22:16the day.
00:22:17I was at work.
00:22:19Billy called that morning and said, I got rained out.
00:22:24And I said, oh, I said, what are you going to do?
00:22:26And he goes, well, I think I'm going to go home and wash some clothes and just kind of chill.
00:22:30I said, oh, okay.
00:22:32Didn't think anything of it.
00:22:33What time was it you left?
00:22:36Around nine.
00:22:37Somewhere around there.
00:22:39Okay.
00:22:40Where were you driving?
00:22:42Right forward.
00:22:44So Reese gets in his truck and he drives down to the Diamond Bee Ranch.
00:22:48He sees that his female friend is not there.
00:22:51And he says that he immediately turns around, drives back by his work site.
00:22:57And Reese always stood on this as, you know, if I, I'm waving to my boss as I'm driving by.
00:23:07If I had abducted a girl, where's she at in my vehicle?
00:23:11He had the ultimate alibi.
00:23:14Well, I probably saw him a couple of days later.
00:23:17He denied everything.
00:23:18And he denied it so believingly.
00:23:23Did you see the little girl jogging?
00:23:25No.
00:23:27Friendswood's police force was, was good.
00:23:30But they investigated bad checks, um, barking dogs.
00:23:35They weren't used to dealing with murderers.
00:23:39Let alone someone like William Reese, the epitome of evil.
00:23:45As the interview develops, you can see Reese starting to take control.
00:23:51Wait a minute. Hold on.
00:23:52Let's put the bullshit.
00:23:55You see Reese suddenly explode.
00:23:57What we know about anger is that it generally takes a while to build up.
00:24:02And then it takes a long time to dissipate.
00:24:05What you see from Reese is this anger out of nowhere, immediate explosion, and then immediate dissipation.
00:24:12It's feigned. It's, it's, it's not real.
00:24:16I mean, you know, um, I'll try to help the best I can.
00:24:20To me, it tells that there's an underlying story.
00:24:24And that underlying story is more than likely going to lead you to a crime.
00:24:30Officer, we appreciate your cooperation.
00:24:32No problem.
00:24:33Everybody else.
00:24:34Are you, uh, are you gonna keep, keep your nose clean this time around?
00:24:40Oh, yeah.
00:24:42The belief was for 20 years, William Reese had gotten away with murder.
00:24:48I mean, we had a lot of stuff pointing the finger at him already, but we needed the Holy Grail.
00:24:53We needed a confession.
00:24:55And when I walk into a room, I'm not going anywhere until I get to the truth.
00:25:11Pasadena police cordoned off an area along Preston Road after they got a call that a body had been found
00:25:17in a retention pond.
00:25:1912-year-old Laura Smither, the child, abduction, murder, discarded, white trash.
00:25:26It's the worst thing anyone could possibly imagine.
00:25:30We need to deliver justice for the Smithers family.
00:25:36After Laura Smither was found,
00:25:40William Reese was the number one suspect given his criminal history.
00:25:44The police searched, uh, Reese's house.
00:25:48I believe we have found some physical evidence that will be helpful, but I won't characterize it in any other
00:25:53fashion.
00:25:54It was a horse blanket that later showed fiber evidence from floor mats in his truck and also those same
00:26:00floor mat fibers and the horse blanket fibers were found on Laura Smithers' socks.
00:26:07The link between the fibers found on Laura's sock and in Reese's truck, it pointed in a direction that he
00:26:15could be linked to the case and it was most definitely affirmative, but it was nowhere close to amount of
00:26:20evidence that you can take to trial and win a conviction.
00:26:24I was mad because I could not believe that with all the circumstantial, with the fiber evidence, why would they
00:26:32not prosecute?
00:26:33Justice and fairness was very important to Laura.
00:26:37It just seemed so wrong that we didn't have justice for her.
00:26:43As Reese becomes a suspect and he's thrown out into the media, someone comes forward with this video of an
00:26:50interaction with Reese with young high school girls at the Busy Bee Cafe in Perilene.
00:26:56What we get is a glimpse of the real William Reese, the predator, and how he stalks his prey.
00:27:09That's Bill. This is a cowboy. See the boots?
00:27:14No, that's okay. We're real cowboys.
00:27:18The glimpse of Reese that we get from this video is, I think, who he sees in the mirror.
00:27:24A real ladies man, a player.
00:27:30He was charming. He was very attentive. He was funny. He complimented you.
00:27:36The first date we went on, and I was 18 and a half, 19 or something like that, we go
00:27:41to Jack in a Box.
00:27:42And he flirts with, he was flirting with the cashier and got our meal for free.
00:27:49And that should have been a sign right there.
00:27:51William Reese, back in the day, was what I would call an urban cowboy.
00:27:55You know, he wore a cowboy hat. He drove a pickup truck.
00:27:59He was bar hopping with country clubs.
00:28:03He was what a lot of ladies described as a good looking man, a charmer.
00:28:08The image of someone you could sit down and have a beer with, have no idea that there's this, that
00:28:14there's this shadow underneath.
00:28:17There was a couple of times that he tried to choke me.
00:28:21And I thought, well, I was kind of calling names and being hateful.
00:28:25Maybe I deserved that, but no, nobody deserved that.
00:28:28You're coming.
00:28:32You're coming.
00:28:33At the Busy Bee Cafe, he's outgoing.
00:28:37He has charisma.
00:28:39And he's hitting on these girls to the point that he actually gets one of them to sit in his
00:28:45lap.
00:28:46Reese starts out massaging this girl on the shoulders, and then ultimately he starts mock choking her.
00:28:59An indication of what his real desires were.
00:29:04Smile.
00:29:04Smile.
00:29:21So what I take from this video in stepping into the interview with Reese is I have his persona down
00:29:28a little bit, and I can actually use that to stroke his ego.
00:29:31I studied you, and you're extremely intelligent.
00:29:35You're outgoing, you're glorious, you're a ladies man, you're good with the window.
00:29:39Good looking guy back in the day, you were a stud.
00:29:44Probably holding like a donkey or something like that, right?
00:29:49Jim is not always politically correct, but he can get to their level.
00:29:55Can I ask you a question?
00:29:56Yeah.
00:29:58What's the chance that you didn't kill Laura Smith, but that at some point in time, you're going to just
00:30:05go away?
00:30:07So I allow Reese to give himself an out, because I know that that's where he wants to go.
00:30:13There ain't no chance. I didn't get no girl, no ride. I didn't see no girl down that road.
00:30:19Reese is, you know, adamant to the fact that he never saw Laura Smith, and he becomes very angry about
00:30:25that to the point that it actually looks like he's going to shut down the interview.
00:30:32In my mind, I know that if he walks out that door, he leaves that room, it's over.
00:30:39This is bullshit.
00:30:41Did you hear me say, Bill, you gave us a little ride?
00:30:44I don't feel like we're trying to be in this room like that.
00:30:47So I'm going to tell you what to have on there if you walk in there.
00:30:49Yeah, I'll go.
00:30:51Don't get mad at me, girl.
00:30:52I'm just a messenger.
00:30:55So part of the take from the 97 interview was, you know, Reese has feigned anger.
00:31:01That's some quick bullshit.
00:31:03And he uses that as a defense to shut down the investigators.
00:31:07And I knew that was going to come up, and basically what I did is throw it back at him.
00:31:11What did I say?
00:31:14I said, is there a chance that he gave her a ride?
00:31:16Huh?
00:31:17Is that a case of the word, or is that a question?
00:31:20It's a question.
00:31:22So, you're driving down this room, and this room is moving down this room at the same time.
00:31:30I ain't nobody going to run for it.
00:31:32Ain't nobody going to run for it.
00:31:35I think I lost it right there.
00:31:38Yeah.
00:31:39So if you're waving your hand at your boss.
00:31:44What the f*** did I have to throw in my car?
00:31:48I don't know if you think about that.
00:31:51I bet you did.
00:31:52I don't know.
00:31:54How?
00:31:55I don't know if I got a station at the end of the time.
00:31:58So what the f*** would you have to throw in your car?
00:32:03Got it?
00:32:04You don't know how to do things.
00:32:05You know, if I got an agent on a man, he'd be dead, you know.
00:32:08Or some intensity, rub it.
00:32:11Because if he's going to, he ain't no one.
00:32:13He ain't going to have a time going to be having a footprint to rub it down that road and
00:32:17have her ride in the floor.
00:32:22You just said that was significant.
00:32:24What?
00:32:26Have her laying there on the floor.
00:32:30Reese makes the statement that she was on the floorboard, and it hit me.
00:32:36He'd messed up.
00:32:50Almost 20 years ago, Laura Smither was abducted.
00:32:55I'm interviewing William Reese.
00:32:56The thought process is, let's figure out everything that's out there, and let's find other victims and bring answers to
00:33:03the families.
00:33:05And I'm ready to deliver justice for Laura's mom.
00:33:09I'm probably about two and a half hours inside that interview.
00:33:13I get deep inside his head, and I'm sickened by the thought, possibility, of what he did.
00:33:22Sexual assault of a child.
00:33:23But the reality is, you can't show that.
00:33:27Because if he sees it for a second, that you're judging him in a negative way, then you're not going
00:33:35anywhere.
00:33:35So you have to remove feelings.
00:33:40You know, after the fact, do I think about how much of a piece of shit this person is?
00:33:44Yeah, absolutely.
00:33:46But when you're sitting in the room with them, you can't let it in.
00:34:02As the interview moves on, Reese starts making missteps.
00:34:06He basically says that he had Laura down on his floorboard in his vehicle.
00:34:12And he turned around and he said that, you know, having someone on the floorboard was just a vigorous speech.
00:34:17It's a vigorous speech.
00:34:21What do you want to hear about it?
00:34:24I'm without it.
00:34:25Sure.
00:34:27Okay.
00:34:28The important thing about this is there were starting to be cracks.
00:34:32He was starting to bury himself in the actual facts.
00:34:37And in the past, I think the issues that the investigators had is they couldn't get him to open up
00:34:41enough that he could fall on his own words.
00:34:59And I make him eat his words, I guess, you know, I'm putting him into a corner.
00:35:05But, so I have these statements and I have this f*** up time frame.
00:35:09Now I have a reason why you're able to wait.
00:35:13It's possible.
00:35:15So where do I go from here?
00:35:17What do I do?
00:35:20I'm not a district attorney.
00:35:22Okay.
00:35:23I'm not a judge.
00:35:25I'm not a jury.
00:35:26I'm not a decision.
00:35:28But I think this is the issue.
00:35:42So, I mean, the ultimate hammer at the end of the day for a normal person who's facing dire consequences
00:35:49could be the death penalty.
00:35:50And having that in your tool belt is essential.
00:36:04Reese is a little bit different.
00:36:06He's not that normal person.
00:36:08And he's not someone that you're going to scare into a confession.
00:36:12Or he's not afraid to die.
00:36:30I turn around and I bend this not to, well, you're worried about the death penalty.
00:36:36It's how are you going to spend your last 10 years?
00:36:39Well, I think at the end of the day, if you aren't going to realize, you're going to spend 10
00:36:43or 12 years of death row by yourself.
00:36:47You're just going to pull it under your sink.
00:36:49It's going to suck.
00:36:50And the food's going to suck.
00:36:52And you can't be around any other inmates.
00:36:55Are you going to have your one hour of, you know, sunlight a day?
00:36:58Or are you going to be in general population?
00:37:00And there's a big difference.
00:37:01And a guy like Reese, who's done 20 years, knows the difference.
00:37:05There's a time.
00:37:08I'm trying to really build up that anxiety and let him know that there's a tight timeline.
00:37:13He becomes so uncomfortable that he stands up, walks to the other side of the room, and he gets in
00:37:22this Marlboro-type cowboy pose with his one foot up against the wall and his arms crossed.
00:37:28And he's just quiet.
00:37:29He doesn't say anything.
00:37:30And I think at this point, he's just brain numb.
00:37:35I just got so deep inside of his head.
00:37:38He had so many thoughts going on.
00:37:40He's trying to figure out what to do.
00:37:43I know that he's on the ropes.
00:37:44He's beat down.
00:37:45And this is the time to go for the throw.
00:38:00The most important thing in dealing with William Reese is steering him unbeknownst to him.
00:38:08This thing has to move at what he believes is his pace.
00:38:13The reality is I'm pulling the strings from behind, putting him in a direction.
00:38:18It's this game of mind chess.
00:38:21You've got to be not one move ahead, but you've got to be three or four moves ahead of where
00:38:26he's going to be.
00:38:35I want your help, because I want you to help in other cases.
00:38:38And I'm thinking you can help me in other cases.
00:38:40So I go with him on North Smither, and I press pause.
00:38:46I felt like I knew where we were going.
00:38:48And so all I did is leave the stuff in his brain, and it's sitting there permeating, maturing, getting ready
00:38:54to grow.
00:38:56Now I can start piling on Tiffany Johnston.
00:39:01We can put Reese in the area, and we have a partial DNA hit.
00:39:05And the idea is to open the book on Tiffany Johnston, because he wants to know what's there hanging over
00:39:11his head.
00:39:13Check out the ponytail work.
00:39:36William Reese was an acquaintance.
00:39:40His mom did my ironing for me when I was working.
00:39:44He was really polite.
00:39:47He didn't act crazy.
00:39:48He was just a normal, everyday person.
00:39:53Very harmless one, I thought, at the time.
00:40:0319-year-old newlywed Tiffany Johnston's Dodge Neon found abandoned.
00:40:08A day later, Johnston's naked body found in the Canadian County Field.
00:40:14Tiffany's lying face down.
00:40:17She is nude, except for a swimsuit top.
00:40:22Her body is found about a mile or two off the highway.
00:40:28When her body is brought to the medical examiner's office, we see our first real signs of violence.
00:40:38Her neck has ligature marks consistent with a rope being placed around her neck.
00:40:46Her state of undress immediately makes them suspect that there is a sexual motivation behind this case.
00:40:54And as such, they go the steps so that DNA testing can be done.
00:41:01But they don't have leads.
00:41:03They don't have suspects at the time.
00:41:06And ultimately, the Tiffany Johnson homicide goes cold.
00:41:13It was just one of those things that you don't see how it could happen to you.
00:41:23Tiffany wasn't a streetwalker.
00:41:24She wasn't a hooker.
00:41:25She wasn't a dopey.
00:41:27She was just an all-around Oklahoma country girl.
00:41:34The tragedy of what happened to Tiffany Johnston, she hasn't done anything to anyone.
00:41:40She's an innocent young girl, a new wife.
00:41:43She has her entire life in front of her.
00:41:46And it's taken in a horrible, horrible fashion.
00:41:51I can't imagine what she went through.
00:41:54I can't imagine how her life ended, how she was left discarded like trash.
00:42:00And the reality is, is that's how Reese saw his victims.
00:42:02He didn't care.
00:42:13Do you agree that you don't know for how much you'll have to be since 1997?
00:42:17I do.
00:42:19Have you ever been with that with me?
00:42:21No.
00:42:24So have you ever met with a sunshine called GLM?
00:42:29DNA technology in 1997 wasn't what it was today.
00:42:34And with the advances in DNA technology in mid-2010s, that DNA gets tested again.
00:42:42And all of a sudden, we have some numbers that are pointing at William Reese.
00:42:49William Reese contributed to the particle trials of the team from the three-stone fraction
00:42:55style of Tiffany's material.
00:42:59So will it be?
00:43:01Now, let me start your life right here.
00:43:02Yeah.
00:43:02Not only the argument, I know that not only the fight there, and I don't want it back.
00:43:06There comes a point where there's a reality.
00:43:09Okay?
00:43:11This is a solid case.
00:43:14You know, when I think about Jim and his style and sometimes his brashness, the word
00:43:20maverick comes to my mind.
00:43:22He does things his way.
00:43:24Typically, in interviews, you want to be the person who's probably talking the least in the
00:43:28room.
00:43:29That's not Jimmy.
00:43:30Jimmy's talking the most in the room.
00:43:33I run through everything on Johnston as far as I wanted to take it.
00:43:37Now he's spinning, and he doesn't know what else is out there.
00:43:41You step in the room with someone like William Reese wondering, what other murders could
00:43:46he have committed?
00:43:48And this is the opportunity, you know, to go for the lawnmower.
00:43:52Various women that have disappeared in that time frame.
00:43:54And really, the reality is, I don't have anything.
00:43:57And all I can do is watch Reese's reaction to the photos that are laid in front of him.
00:44:22Several months after Laura Smithers' body was discovered, a 17-year-old female student named
00:44:31Jessica Cain disappeared.
00:44:33And she's never seen again.
00:44:35The last night Jessica was seen, Jessica had been at a local theater that specialized in
00:44:45student theater.
00:44:46The kids from that performance had gone to kind of an after party at a restaurant.
00:44:52And it was time for Jessica to go home at the end of that evening.
00:44:56And so she was seen getting into her truck and then heading south.
00:45:01Her truck was found later that evening, parked along the side of the interstate,
00:45:05going towards her home where she should have been.
00:45:09But there was no sign of Jessica.
00:45:11There was no sign that the truck had broken down, had a flat, nothing like that.
00:45:15No sign that it had been in an accident or any type of altercation.
00:45:19The fact that her purse was still there with the vehicle made people wonder what could have
00:45:24happened.
00:45:24Because if she had gone on her own volition, she certainly wouldn't have left her purse.
00:45:31Jessica Cain was just this, you know, poof.
00:45:33She was gone.
00:45:35And the frustrating thing is, in 97, you know, I'm a highway patrol trooper working in Houston.
00:45:40I was working patrol that night.
00:45:43I mean, I was the guy working that roadway in the black and white.
00:45:49And I guess there's always a question, did I miss something or could I have seen something
00:45:53to alter the course of history to save that girl's life?
00:45:58And these questions stayed with me all these years.
00:46:04The search for Jessica Cain widened today.
00:46:08More than 100 volunteers searched on foot along the marshes and through the brush.
00:46:13There was just this massive response from the community.
00:46:17Jessica was beloved among her friend group, and she had a lot of friends.
00:46:21Does this sound at all like Jessica to not call?
00:46:27No.
00:46:28That's why we know something is wrong.
00:46:30This is just not her.
00:46:33Somebody answer.
00:46:35The questions that must have gone through her family's mind, I can't imagine what that
00:46:40must have been like for them.
00:46:42What would you say to whoever you think has her?
00:46:47If you have my daughter and you're through with her, I pray that you would return her
00:46:57because she's still special to all of us and we want her back home.
00:47:03Jessica went missing on August the 17th of that year.
00:47:07So about four months after Laura, we thought, could it be Reese?
00:47:13We just had that feeling.
00:47:15It raised the stakes that not just one, this is a serial killer situation, and are there
00:47:22more?
00:47:22The thing that made William Reese such a strong suspect was his connection to Laura Smithers'
00:47:29abduction and murder.
00:47:30The fact that Jessica had been abducted just a few months later and in the same area had
00:47:38him as a common suspect.
00:47:40Is Reese a suspect?
00:47:41I'm sure he was.
00:47:43It just never went anywhere.
00:47:52Before the interview goes down, all these agencies, they want to have a meeting.
00:47:56The FBI, various district attorney's offices are there, pretty much anyone and everyone
00:48:01who's been involved in this.
00:48:03You know, we talked about Jessica Cain, and the FBI was adamant that they had a suspect
00:48:08and really didn't want Ray's question about Jessica Cain.
00:48:12You know, I asked him how long had they had a suspect, and the answer was, you know, some
00:48:17ridiculous amount of time.
00:48:18To me, if you can't make a case in that amount of time against someone, then she's probably
00:48:24the wrong person.
00:48:26That's my thought process.
00:48:29But it didn't make any sense because, let's say they do have the right person.
00:48:33Who cares if we talk to William Reese about Jessica Cain?
00:48:37At the end of the day, the only way to corroborate it is to provide a body.
00:48:41Sometimes it's better to ask forgiveness than permission, and that may apply very well to
00:48:48Ranger Holland.
00:49:03I put the eight by ten glossy of Jessica Cain on the table in front of Reese, and I followed
00:49:11his eyes, and I could not believe what he did.
00:49:34Jessica Cain.
00:49:41But in the second I laid the picture in front of him, he locked in.
00:49:46His eyes wouldn't come off of it.
00:49:50It was immediately apparent to me that not only did he abduct her, but he'd killed her.
00:49:56And there was no doubt in my mind about that.
00:50:06So, why would I think that you have anything to do?
00:50:09That makes me a long idea.
00:50:11You know, there's a gray area in Reese's brain, and my take is that the gray will be filled
00:50:15in by his imagination.
00:50:17I'm just planting the seeds, and I'm giving them time to grow, and I'm giving him time
00:50:22to fill in the blanks, and I'm watching the reaction.
00:50:26So, this is kind of a fishing expedition on my part, and I'm tossing photographs out there
00:50:31just to judge Reese from his response.
00:50:34At this point in the interview, there's no doubt in my mind Reese is responsible for the
00:50:38murder of three women.
00:50:39The question is, is he responsible for a fourth?
00:50:44One of the cases that had been looked at for, you know, roughly 20 years is the disappearance
00:50:48of Kelly Cox.
00:50:50I'm going to show you a picture.
00:50:53So, Kelly Cox is this bizarre story.
00:51:00Kelly Cox was a young woman who was a student at University of North Texas.
00:51:05A pretty young woman obviously had a very full life ahead of her.
00:51:11She wants to be a criminal justice major, and they go to tour the Denton Police Department.
00:51:18And then they all leave from there.
00:51:22Kelly Cox goes back to her car and can't find her keys.
00:51:25She actually asks to use Denton PD's phone, but because it's considered a long-distance call,
00:51:35they say no.
00:51:38So, she goes to the gas station across the street and calls her boyfriend from the payphone
00:51:44and makes arrangements to get help, and she's never heard from or seen again.
00:51:52I think one of the strangest things about Kelly Cox's disappearance is where it occurs.
00:51:58She had just finished a tour of the police department for her college class.
00:52:05And she's right across the street from the police department when she disappears.
00:52:11That's just weird shit.
00:52:23Kelly Cox left behind that mother, constantly wondering if and when Kelly would come home.
00:52:30I left for work one morning, and my daughter was there.
00:52:34That afternoon, I get a phone call, and she's not where she was supposed to be.
00:52:41And there was no idea, no clue as to what happened to her from 1997 until 2016.
00:52:49But we had call records.
00:52:51We also had gas receipts that placed William Reese in the area at the time of disappearance of Kelly Cox.
00:52:58Reese was making a lot of trips from Oklahoma all the way back down to the Houston area along the
00:53:03I-45 corridor.
00:53:15Reese was making a lot of trips to Oklahoma all the way back down to the Houston area.
00:53:16Interestingly enough, on Kelly Cox, nothing.
00:53:20Absolutely no reaction.
00:53:22A blank no.
00:53:24There was nowhere to go.
00:53:25I mean, I think at that point, there's nothing else to ask him.
00:53:29So I go beyond that, and I'm sharing my thoughts of my profile of Reese with him.
00:53:40You're not a serial killer, girl.
00:53:43That's not you.
00:53:45It's about sex.
00:53:48This is about a guy that has a crazy sex drive, and he's a rapist, you know,
00:53:54and he's sexually assaulting women, and it's really a simple story
00:53:59because William Reese didn't want to stay in jail.
00:54:01He didn't like it, and he had a clear and simple choice to make.
00:54:05And the choice was he could stop sexually assaulting women
00:54:10or he could make sure that there was no one left testifying,
00:54:13and he chose the latter of the two.
00:54:17What you learn is on your prior mistakes.
00:54:20And you learn that if you let him, that wasn't that what they're going to testify
00:54:24and say that you're going to go to prison.
00:54:26And you don't want me to go back to prison.
00:54:28But that's not that we knew.
00:54:29We were probably not understanding that.
00:54:32And that's why everyone who looked at it was wrong.
00:54:35Because then we know where the s**t was going to be.
00:54:38The entire experience was different watching Jim's interview.
00:54:44It's not a normal, routine interview.
00:54:50Well, yeah, I'll do anything that I can to accomplish my goal.
00:54:59And my goal is just my family's culture to suffocate students
00:55:04because that's what I do.
00:55:06I'm very s**t human.
00:55:09You've asked me my opinion.
00:55:11I'm a fool of myself, American elevator.
00:55:14I'm the best that is ever.
00:55:17You all right?
00:55:18And that's why I get the phone calls.
00:55:22I'm so s**t that I know.
00:55:24I did a s**t that no one else admitted me.
00:55:27That interview lasts roughly five hours,
00:55:30and it is safe to say at the end of watching that interview,
00:55:33I hated Jim Holland.
00:55:36It is hours of him telling William Reese how awesome Jim Holland is.
00:55:43Frankly, I wanted to fight the guy.
00:55:44I just wanted to scream at the computer,
00:55:47let him talk some.
00:55:48Like, I'm here to hear what William Reese has to say.
00:55:51Shut up for a second.
00:55:52Let him do some talking.
00:55:54You know, I'll be honest with you.
00:55:56We don't solve this case.
00:56:01That is why she takes to her body.
00:56:05So what does that mean to this girl?
00:56:07You know how cute she is.
00:56:08She's a very attractive girl.
00:56:10You know what I mean?
00:56:12But she's got parents.
00:56:14And she's got a mom.
00:56:16She never goes anywhere.
00:56:18We got the phone.
00:56:20We just get that set of dollars.
00:56:21We call her.
00:56:23We call her, we call her, we just get it.
00:56:26None of that, you know that.
00:56:29At the end of the day, more than likely, you know where she is.
00:56:33Can you help me to miss her?
00:56:38As this interview is progressing,
00:56:41Reese becomes more and more silent,
00:56:42and it's almost like it's the blood in the water.
00:56:46At one point, the whole thing turns.
00:56:52And it suddenly makes sense.
00:56:54This is all a show.
00:56:56And I realize Jim is putting on a show,
00:57:00and William Reese is eating it up.
00:57:02And he steps back up towards table.
00:57:05It was like he got hit by a car,
00:57:07or someone beat him over the head with a baseball bat.
00:57:10I mean, he's just stunned,
00:57:14eyes spinning in his skull,
00:57:15and you can tell that, I mean,
00:57:18he's not on the same planet that I am at that time.
00:57:35And he takes four photographs,
00:57:38and he arranges them in a collage.
00:57:48And he says these, these four.
00:57:54The pictures that William Reese gestured to
00:57:57was Laura Smither, Kelly Cox, Jessica Kane,
00:58:02and Tiffany Johnston.
00:58:05He says these, we'll talk about these four.
00:58:23I've been in the room with Reese for almost five hours,
00:58:28and he's done.
00:58:30When I left the interview,
00:58:32you know, it kind of sinks in for a second.
00:58:33I had the opportunity to give answers to two families,
00:58:39and to bring their girls home.
00:58:42I was excited in one part of my mind,
00:58:44in the other part,
00:58:46thousands of pounds of weights,
00:58:48you know, fell on my shoulders,
00:58:50because I was thinking,
00:58:52don't screw this up.
00:59:01You know, ultimately,
00:59:02when I interview Reese six days later,
00:59:04what happens is you basically have six days of anxiety
00:59:07that's built up in Reese.
00:59:08I mean, it is apparent.
00:59:10I mean, this guy's ate up with it.
00:59:12He is ready to go.
00:59:13So you know that there's more than one thing that you want.
00:59:17Right.
00:59:17So you have lunched.
00:59:19You are all four of those.
00:59:21Is that a person who's a hot run all four of those?
00:59:26If I do declare it all four.
00:59:28Mm-hmm.
00:59:29I'll tell you what happened.
00:59:31Okay.
00:59:31All right.
00:59:33Okay, is there anything else out there?
00:59:34Is there any more?
00:59:35No.
00:59:35Okay, so that's it.
00:59:37The most important thing to the families,
00:59:40I'll tell you what was recovering the remains
00:59:42when you do that.
00:59:43Yes, yes.
00:59:43Okay.
00:59:45It's a pretty huge moment,
00:59:47because it's the first time he admitted
00:59:50any type of culpability in any of the murders.
00:59:55And now not only is he admitting that he did it,
00:59:58but probably more importantly,
01:00:00that he's actually going to take us there.
01:00:03So long story short,
01:00:05I've visited with all the DAs.
01:00:07I've talked to my drive.
01:00:11The goddesses of the egg is here right now.
01:00:16Ranger Holland went back up to that interview with Reese,
01:00:19armed with my willingness to waive the death penalty
01:00:22if he would give us truthful information
01:00:25and lead us to the whereabouts of Jessica.
01:00:28But everybody's got to agree to it.
01:00:32And, you know, the problem is,
01:00:34is we have letters from two district attorneys.
01:00:37But the district attorney in Oklahoma City
01:00:40and the Harris County district attorney
01:00:41wouldn't give us a letter of removing the death penalty.
01:00:46And I told them that the reality is,
01:00:48is you haven't given us anything.
01:00:49You haven't proven yourself up.
01:01:07And I told him I felt like
01:01:08if he proved himself up
01:01:11and he led us to at least one body,
01:01:14that the rest of the DAs would jump on board.
01:01:18And there was a good chance
01:01:19that they would give him assurances
01:01:21that they would remove the death penalty.
01:01:24Reese does not want to spend
01:01:25the rest of his life on death row.
01:01:28If you prove up what, okay,
01:01:31then everything falls into place.
01:01:33Everybody signs off on every turn.
01:01:36I'll give you the other one.
01:01:38It's okay.
01:01:38Real.
01:01:40Don't bullshit you.
01:01:41I'm not going to bullshit you.
01:01:42I'm not going to bullshit you.
01:01:44All right?
01:01:46I wouldn't do that.
01:01:51You all right?
01:01:52Yeah, good.
01:01:53I'll leave you on a half an hour.
01:01:57Hearing that Reese is willing to cooperate
01:01:59and is actually willing to take us
01:02:01to where he buried one or both of the girls
01:02:03was just an unbelievable break in the case.
01:02:07When we left Huntsville,
01:02:09he said he's going to go point out a body.
01:02:12He tells us it's Kelly Cox from Denton.
01:02:16It's a several-hour drive,
01:02:18and I'm thinking about,
01:02:20man, I hope this guy knows where this is
01:02:22because it's going to be difficult.
01:02:23Keep in mind, this is over 20 years.
01:02:25That area outside of the city limits of Houston
01:02:30has completely changed.
01:02:32We keep driving further.
01:02:34It gets darker.
01:02:36It gets unpopulated,
01:02:38and we start pulling over
01:02:40well, well outside the city limits.
01:02:43And I'm like, man, there's, I mean,
01:02:46this is just a field.
01:02:48And we pull off in there.
01:02:50He stepped out,
01:02:51and it was almost like a dog on the hunt.
01:02:55You know, it's like his nose hit the air,
01:02:56and he started looking around,
01:02:57and he's gone.
01:03:00He starts literally running off,
01:03:03and he's shackled up,
01:03:04and he's moving.
01:03:07And I catch up to him,
01:03:09and, you know, I'm like,
01:03:10what are you thinking?
01:03:10And he's not stopping.
01:03:12He's going, he goes, this is it.
01:03:14This is it.
01:03:14It's over here.
01:03:16It's so far back in the fields
01:03:19and isolated with trees.
01:03:23When we start digging for the bodies,
01:03:25we completely underestimated
01:03:26how difficult that was going to be.
01:03:29That led from flashlights
01:03:31and a couple shovels
01:03:32in the middle of the night
01:03:33to an all-out operation.
01:03:36This is a massive undertaking
01:03:39with a lot of equipment
01:03:40and a lot of people being utilized.
01:03:43So we'd been digging, you know,
01:03:45for a while,
01:03:45and when we didn't find the first body,
01:03:48you know, Reese,
01:03:49his anxiety just went through the roof.
01:03:52And ultimately what he does
01:03:53is he turns around and he says,
01:03:55I want to give up the second girl.
01:03:56Him and the fact that the district attorney
01:03:58in Harris County
01:03:58hadn't put an offer on the table
01:04:00or guaranteed that the death penalty
01:04:01wouldn't be taken away
01:04:04didn't faze him.
01:04:06He got in my car,
01:04:07and Bill leads us
01:04:10to the second dig site.
01:04:13And that's how he gave up Jessica Cain.
01:04:18Reese led us to a tract of land
01:04:21in South Houston.
01:04:22It had a barn on it
01:04:24and some horses.
01:04:25The digging began in earnest
01:04:26probably the next day.
01:04:28We're digging for days.
01:04:29We've torn down barn.
01:04:31We've torn down fence lines.
01:04:34The digging continued
01:04:36further and further back
01:04:38on the property
01:04:38without any evidence
01:04:40of Jessica's remains.
01:04:42And every day that went by
01:04:45ended in frustration.
01:04:48We're digging for three weeks.
01:04:51Nothing.
01:04:53Jimmy's taking heat.
01:04:55They're pissed.
01:04:57The high command's mad.
01:04:58You're crazy.
01:04:59He's playing you.
01:05:00Put him back in prison.
01:05:01Be done.
01:05:03There were some people
01:05:03that began to voice
01:05:05some criticisms
01:05:06that y'all are being played.
01:05:08Y'all are being played big.
01:05:10Because in the end,
01:05:12we were all there
01:05:13based on the word
01:05:15of a psychopath.
01:05:18So we're not finding the bodies
01:05:20and anxiety
01:05:21and on Reese's part
01:05:22is going through the roof every day.
01:05:23It's getting worse
01:05:24and worse and worse.
01:05:27But Reese is continually
01:05:28wanting to talk to me.
01:05:30I said, okay, Bill,
01:05:31but you got to talk
01:05:32to your attorney first.
01:05:34And so I put Bill
01:05:35on the phone
01:05:35with his attorney.
01:05:37And he's like,
01:05:38okay, yep, yep, yep.
01:05:40And Bill gets off the phone
01:05:41and he says,
01:05:42he told me not
01:05:43to talk to you anymore.
01:05:45I said, okay,
01:05:46well, that's fine.
01:05:48And he goes,
01:05:49f*** him.
01:05:49I want to tell
01:05:50the story
01:05:52of all four girls.
01:06:04Jim Holloman,
01:06:06Texas Rangers.
01:06:08If you could state
01:06:09your full name,
01:06:11the Wayne Lewis race.
01:06:34Can you describe
01:06:35the first one to me,
01:06:37how it happens?
01:06:45I remember going to work
01:06:47at a construction job site
01:06:49and I was going down
01:06:51towards Diamond B Ranch
01:06:52in my truck.
01:06:54I noticed Trina's
01:06:55vehicle wasn't there.
01:06:57Mm-hmm.
01:06:58And I took off.
01:06:59Okay.
01:07:01And about that time,
01:07:03I hear something
01:07:05slam against my mirror
01:07:06and against the
01:07:08passenger side door
01:07:09and it scared me
01:07:11so I stopped.
01:07:14Took it out of gear.
01:07:16I got out
01:07:17and walked around
01:07:17and I noticed
01:07:20that my mirror was broke.
01:07:23And that's when
01:07:24I looked in the ditch
01:07:25and I seen Laura Smithers
01:07:26laying in the ditch.
01:07:28And she wasn't breathing
01:07:30so I picked her up,
01:07:33opened up my door
01:07:34to my truck
01:07:35and put her
01:07:36on the floorboard.
01:07:38And I took this
01:07:41red and black chicken,
01:07:42blackhead,
01:07:43throw blackhead I had
01:07:44and I laid it
01:07:44on top of her
01:07:45and went down the road.
01:07:48I remember waving
01:07:49at my boss.
01:07:50He waved back.
01:07:53I ended up
01:07:54out by this pond
01:07:55somewhere
01:07:57and I put her
01:07:58in the water.
01:08:01that second interview
01:08:03is William Reese talking
01:08:05as he lays out
01:08:07his story
01:08:08of what happened
01:08:08to these girls.
01:08:11Tell me what's
01:08:12the next incident
01:08:12that occurs.
01:08:19I was at Ben
01:08:20against drinking
01:08:21and eating
01:08:22or coming out
01:08:24and getting my truck.
01:08:27And this girl
01:08:28comes up
01:08:29in between the Jeep
01:08:30and this pickup
01:08:31that's apartment
01:08:32said she slams her door
01:08:34into my truck
01:08:35and I yell at her
01:08:36and me and her
01:08:37start arguing
01:08:39calling her
01:08:40stupid bitch
01:08:41all kinds of
01:08:45and I back up
01:08:47and I pull off
01:08:48and I'm just going
01:08:49down the road
01:08:49and I pour me a drink.
01:08:51I think she flashed
01:08:52her headlights
01:08:53but I'm not sure.
01:08:54Anyway, I pull over
01:08:56on the side of the road.
01:08:58It's her
01:08:59and he started arguing
01:09:00again
01:09:00and I hit her
01:09:01and grabbed her
01:09:02around the throat
01:09:02and I was choking her.
01:09:05Okay.
01:09:06And then I picked her up
01:09:07and put her
01:09:08in my truck
01:09:09and I drove out
01:09:10to the horse bagel barn
01:09:15sitting there drinking
01:09:16thinking
01:09:16what the hell
01:09:17am I doing
01:09:17and I get the dozer
01:09:21and I dig
01:09:22not too far
01:09:23from the fence
01:09:25and I go get her
01:09:27and I put her in it.
01:09:30Did you ever
01:09:31have sex with her?
01:09:32No.
01:09:32Never?
01:09:33Never had sex with her.
01:09:34Okay.
01:09:37It's easier
01:09:37for a perpetrator
01:09:39to talk about murder
01:09:40as opposed
01:09:40to sexual assault.
01:09:42It's
01:09:43less personal
01:09:44to them
01:09:45maybe less embarrassing
01:09:46and the reality
01:09:48is it's a place
01:09:49that I don't necessarily
01:09:50need him to go.
01:09:51It's murder.
01:09:54What about the next one?
01:09:57That'd be the one in Denton.
01:10:00Okay.
01:10:00Tell me about that one.
01:10:07There's a little grocery store
01:10:10pull up on the side
01:10:12of it
01:10:13holding up the door
01:10:14and I
01:10:15kind of got out
01:10:16too fast.
01:10:17I ran into this girl
01:10:19and coke went
01:10:20all over me
01:10:21and her
01:10:22and I started
01:10:24cussing
01:10:24and I think
01:10:27pushed her
01:10:28that's when
01:10:28she hit me
01:10:29with the coke.
01:10:33I slapped her.
01:10:35You're fighting back?
01:10:36Yes.
01:10:37Okay.
01:10:37What happened tonight?
01:10:38I said then
01:10:38I grabbed her around
01:10:39the throat
01:10:40and I choked her
01:10:44and then I put her
01:10:45in the truck
01:10:46and I went out
01:10:47to where my other
01:10:47dozer's at
01:10:48and I'm sitting
01:10:49in it
01:10:49and it's dark.
01:10:50Mm-hmm.
01:10:51I sat there
01:10:52all night
01:10:53trying to figure out
01:10:53what the hell
01:10:54you know
01:10:55I just
01:10:56next thing
01:10:56keeps going around.
01:10:58I got on the bulldozer
01:10:59dug me a hoe
01:11:00and I lay her
01:11:01in that hoe
01:11:02and I covered her up.
01:11:05Reese never
01:11:06takes any
01:11:07bit of accountability
01:11:09for what occurred.
01:11:11You know
01:11:11every one of
01:11:12his interactions
01:11:13with these girls
01:11:14are
01:11:16an accident
01:11:17you know
01:11:18something that they did
01:11:19but he initiated this
01:11:20probably watching them.
01:11:23Reese's
01:11:24psyche is
01:11:25you know
01:11:26he sees other people
01:11:28as being
01:11:28basically pawns
01:11:30that are
01:11:30put on earth
01:11:31for his pleasure.
01:11:33He doesn't have
01:11:34feelings for them.
01:11:37Go ahead
01:11:37with the next one.
01:11:39That's the one
01:11:40in Oklahoma City.
01:11:41What happened there?
01:11:49I was going down
01:11:50this road
01:11:51as a car wash
01:11:52I pulled in there
01:11:53I sprayed up
01:11:54underneath my truck
01:11:55on the muffler system
01:11:57that's when it grew
01:11:58and yelled
01:11:59hey I sprayed her
01:12:00and
01:12:02me and her
01:12:02got into it.
01:12:04One thing
01:12:05led to another
01:12:05and
01:12:07I just grabbed over
01:12:08and I threw her
01:12:09in the truck
01:12:10and we'd rest
01:12:11around in there
01:12:12for a little bit
01:12:14we was fighting
01:12:16you know
01:12:17I unsnapped her
01:12:18overalls.
01:12:19I don't know why
01:12:19I can't explain
01:12:20it just happened
01:12:21okay
01:12:22and then
01:12:25maybe
01:12:26two minutes
01:12:27I get off of her
01:12:29and then like
01:12:30stood up
01:12:32putting up
01:12:32my pants
01:12:33she hit me
01:12:34in the back
01:12:34of the head
01:12:34with a horseshoe
01:12:36pissed me off
01:12:37and that's when
01:12:39I grabbed her
01:12:39around the throat
01:12:40choked her
01:12:41and I grabbed
01:12:41that lead rope
01:12:42around her neck
01:12:43pulled it real tight
01:12:49the most surprising
01:12:51thing
01:12:52about
01:12:53William Reese's
01:12:55account
01:12:55of
01:12:56Tiffany Johnston
01:12:57is the callousness
01:12:59or the brevity
01:12:59with which he talks
01:13:01about her rape
01:13:02because
01:13:03it was nothing
01:13:05to him
01:13:05the most horrible
01:13:07thing that had ever
01:13:08happened in her life
01:13:09he was describing
01:13:11himself
01:13:12as if it's what he did
01:13:14last weekend
01:13:14okay
01:13:15do you
01:13:16have sex for two
01:13:18for two minutes
01:13:19roughly
01:13:19or what do you
01:13:20say then
01:13:21William Reese knew
01:13:23we had DNA
01:13:25from Tiffany Johnston
01:13:27and he had to
01:13:28explain that
01:13:31there's no
01:13:32just leaving that part
01:13:34out of the story
01:13:34because there's something
01:13:36left unaccounted
01:13:37if there was
01:13:39any type
01:13:40of sexual assault
01:13:41with the other
01:13:41victims
01:13:42we don't have
01:13:44evidence of that
01:13:45he's never going
01:13:46to openly
01:13:47offer that
01:13:48and that's all
01:13:49yeah
01:13:50so
01:13:52Reese accepts
01:13:53responsibility
01:13:53for the death
01:13:54of all
01:13:55four girls
01:13:56and the reality
01:13:57was
01:13:58the only way
01:13:58to corroborate
01:13:59everything that he
01:14:00was saying
01:14:00was to prove
01:14:01him up
01:14:02through
01:14:02finding
01:14:03these two victims
01:14:06so we continued
01:14:07to dig
01:14:08but
01:14:09we start realizing
01:14:12the impossibility
01:14:13of
01:14:13of what we want
01:14:14to do
01:14:15and
01:14:15every day
01:14:16that you get into
01:14:17it farther and farther
01:14:18you know
01:14:19you become more
01:14:20and more
01:14:20desolate
01:14:21and
01:14:22wondering if
01:14:23if
01:14:24you know
01:14:24if you're going
01:14:25to succeed
01:14:27you can't accomplish
01:14:29anything in life
01:14:30without the risk
01:14:31of failing
01:14:31but I can tell you
01:14:33the families
01:14:33the families
01:14:35would appreciate
01:14:35us making
01:14:36every effort
01:14:37doing everything
01:14:38we possibly can
01:14:39to come up
01:14:40with a final
01:14:41resolution
01:14:42on these cases
01:14:43this was now
01:14:45probably in the
01:14:45third week
01:14:46of digging
01:14:47we were basically
01:14:47out of land
01:14:49to look at
01:14:49I'm hearing from
01:14:50Jimmy Daly
01:14:51usually in the
01:14:52afternoon
01:14:52he would call
01:14:53and say
01:14:54found anything
01:14:55nope
01:14:57you better hurry up
01:14:58just keep in mind
01:14:59I'm never wrong
01:15:01the digging
01:15:02continued
01:15:04fell safe
01:15:05saw the bucket
01:15:06being dumped
01:15:08and saw something
01:15:12and then everything
01:15:13stopped
01:15:14so that emotion
01:15:15was incredible
01:15:17because I thought
01:15:18that was the moment
01:15:29we had two
01:15:30spotters
01:15:30we had one
01:15:32that was in the hole
01:15:33while they were digging
01:15:36that bucket would turn
01:15:38switch over
01:15:39it would empty
01:15:40second guy
01:15:41where they emptied
01:15:42found human remains
01:15:45when the first body
01:15:46was found
01:15:47this was big
01:15:49Jessica Cain
01:15:50was found first
01:15:50I mean the emotion
01:15:52was just
01:15:54was indescribable
01:15:56Josh called
01:15:57and he said
01:15:58that they had
01:15:59discovered
01:15:59what they believed
01:16:01to be human remains
01:16:02at the
01:16:03Houston dig site
01:16:05you know
01:16:06it felt good
01:16:06hearing Josh's voice
01:16:08on the phone
01:16:09and everything
01:16:10he'd been through
01:16:11it felt really good
01:16:12we re-energized
01:16:14and we immediately
01:16:15went back
01:16:16to Brazori County
01:16:17Jim comes down
01:16:18after Jessica
01:16:19is located
01:16:20and so
01:16:21we're all together
01:16:22at the Kelly Cox
01:16:23site
01:16:24we locate
01:16:25this bracelet
01:16:26Kelly had this
01:16:27bracelet on
01:16:27we find
01:16:28the remains
01:16:29of Kelly Cox
01:16:32at this point
01:16:33you know
01:16:33I'm not real
01:16:34for sure
01:16:34how I'm supposed
01:16:36to feel
01:16:36for the families
01:16:37do I want
01:16:38to be happy
01:16:39do I want
01:16:39to be sad
01:16:41this means
01:16:42they're gone
01:16:42forever
01:16:43here's where
01:16:44they are
01:16:46for the Texas
01:16:47cases
01:16:48for Laura
01:16:48Jessica
01:16:49and Kelly
01:16:50we didn't
01:16:50have a trial
01:16:51Reese actually
01:16:53pled guilty
01:16:54in all three
01:16:55cases
01:16:56to the maximum
01:16:57sentence
01:16:57life in prison
01:16:59Reese had a
01:17:00full-on trial
01:17:00in Oklahoma
01:17:01where everything
01:17:02was contested
01:17:03and challenged
01:17:03day four
01:17:05in the Oklahoma
01:17:06County Courthouse
01:17:07jurors learning
01:17:08how William
01:17:09Lewis Reese
01:17:10became the
01:17:10prime suspect
01:17:11for Tiffany
01:17:12Johnston's
01:17:131997 murder
01:17:14this is a
01:17:15once in a
01:17:16career
01:17:16type of case
01:17:19I needed
01:17:20to be there
01:17:21for Laura
01:17:21that's the only
01:17:22way I can
01:17:22explain it
01:17:23somehow
01:17:24this was
01:17:24my way
01:17:26of walking
01:17:27with her
01:17:28to the end
01:17:31and watching
01:17:32Jimmy's
01:17:33questioning
01:17:34of Reese
01:17:34it was just
01:17:35so inspiring
01:17:37to know
01:17:38that somebody
01:17:39cared that
01:17:40much about
01:17:41their work
01:17:43this was
01:17:44somebody who
01:17:45really had
01:17:45prepared for
01:17:46those questions
01:17:47prepared
01:17:48for whichever
01:17:49way what
01:17:50was coming
01:17:51back was
01:17:51going to go
01:17:52I was
01:17:53really blown
01:17:54away by
01:17:56what I
01:17:56heard
01:17:58and of course
01:17:59I was
01:17:59emotionally
01:18:00a wreck
01:18:01from what
01:18:03heard
01:18:05the ability
01:18:06for the jury
01:18:07to watch
01:18:09and to see
01:18:10the exact
01:18:10same thing
01:18:11that we
01:18:12realized
01:18:13when we
01:18:13listened to
01:18:14those interviews
01:18:14watch as
01:18:16Jim Holland
01:18:17puts on
01:18:18this show
01:18:19watch as
01:18:20he puts
01:18:21up this
01:18:22image
01:18:23almost making
01:18:24himself an
01:18:25idol
01:18:27and to
01:18:28plug away
01:18:29at it
01:18:29for hours
01:18:30on end
01:18:31almost
01:18:33tirelessly
01:18:35and then
01:18:36to see
01:18:36that turn
01:18:37and to
01:18:38see
01:18:39it work
01:18:40and then
01:18:41to hear
01:18:42these horrific
01:18:43stories
01:18:44come out
01:18:45about what
01:18:45a monster
01:18:46this man
01:18:46is
01:18:47it was
01:18:48pivotal
01:18:48in the
01:18:49prosecution
01:18:49of William
01:18:51Reese
01:18:51the jury
01:18:52ultimately
01:18:53finds
01:18:53William
01:18:54Reese
01:18:54guilty
01:18:54for the
01:18:55murder
01:18:55of Tiffany
01:18:56Johnson
01:18:56justice
01:18:57delayed
01:18:57is justice
01:18:58denied
01:18:58justice
01:19:00will not
01:19:01be delayed
01:19:01any longer
01:19:02in this
01:19:02case
01:19:04I sentence
01:19:05you to
01:19:05death
01:19:08immediately
01:19:09after he
01:19:10sentenced
01:19:11to death
01:19:13Reese
01:19:13reaches out
01:19:14and he
01:19:15requests to
01:19:15speak to
01:19:16myself
01:19:16and Josh
01:19:17Rogers
01:19:19first it
01:19:19was he
01:19:20was upset
01:19:21with us
01:19:21and mad
01:19:22with us
01:19:22and kind
01:19:23of acted
01:19:23like a
01:19:24little kid
01:19:25who'd had
01:19:25his feelings
01:19:26hurt
01:19:26after talking
01:19:27to him
01:19:28for about
01:19:28I don't know
01:19:29maybe five
01:19:29or ten
01:19:30minutes
01:19:30I kind
01:19:30of called
01:19:30bull on it
01:19:31he just
01:19:32rolled back
01:19:32into the
01:19:33normal bill
01:19:33and our
01:19:34normal
01:19:34relationship
01:19:35and exactly
01:19:36how things
01:19:37had been
01:19:37before the
01:19:38trial
01:19:39for who
01:19:40this individual
01:19:41is
01:19:42for the
01:19:42horrific
01:19:43acts
01:19:43that he's
01:19:44done
01:19:44just for
01:19:45the horrific
01:19:45manner in
01:19:46which Tiffany
01:19:47Johnston
01:19:48was killed
01:19:48absolutely
01:19:49believed that
01:19:50the death
01:19:50penalty
01:19:51was the
01:19:52just outcome
01:19:53for this
01:19:54case
01:19:55I'm a firm
01:19:56believer
01:19:56in the
01:19:58death penalty
01:19:59I don't know
01:20:00how you
01:20:01could forgive
01:20:01someone for
01:20:02killing your
01:20:03child
01:20:05if they
01:20:05go to the
01:20:06electric chair
01:20:07in Oklahoma
01:20:07I'd be more
01:20:08than glad
01:20:08to pull
01:20:09William Reese's
01:20:11electricity
01:20:12and give it
01:20:12to him
01:20:13and I could
01:20:14shoot
01:20:15during the
01:20:16firing squad
01:20:18William
01:20:19is an evil
01:20:20man
01:20:21there's a
01:20:21special place
01:20:22in hell
01:20:22for him
01:20:23when his
01:20:23time comes
01:20:24as a
01:20:25father of
01:20:25girls
01:20:26he scares
01:20:27me
01:20:27do I feel
01:20:28like a
01:20:28victim of
01:20:29Billy
01:20:29no
01:20:29because I'm
01:20:30not a
01:20:31victim
01:20:32I feel
01:20:32like my
01:20:33children are
01:20:33victims
01:20:33because they
01:20:34had nothing
01:20:34to do
01:20:34with this
01:20:35and they
01:20:35had to
01:20:35go through
01:20:35a living
01:20:36hell
01:20:36over all
01:20:37this
01:20:38but I'm
01:20:39not a
01:20:39victim
01:20:40because
01:20:42I was a
01:20:42grown woman
01:20:43I should
01:20:43have known
01:20:44better
01:20:47it changed
01:20:48everything
01:20:49for our
01:20:49family
01:20:50there's no
01:20:51such thing
01:20:52as closure
01:20:52that's a
01:20:54made up
01:20:54media term
01:20:55that I wish
01:20:55would be
01:20:56shattered
01:20:57you can get
01:20:58to resolution
01:21:01but there's
01:21:01no closure
01:21:02on love
01:21:05how did this
01:21:06case change
01:21:07me I guess
01:21:08you know
01:21:09probably more
01:21:09than anything
01:21:10it changed
01:21:10my family
01:21:11because I
01:21:12wouldn't let
01:21:13my daughter
01:21:13go anywhere
01:21:14alone
01:21:15and definitely
01:21:15wouldn't let
01:21:16her run
01:21:17anywhere
01:21:17unless I
01:21:18was watching
01:21:18without
01:21:20Jimmy
01:21:20this would
01:21:21have never
01:21:21happened
01:21:22nobody else
01:21:23was going
01:21:23to state
01:21:24their reputation
01:21:25nobody else
01:21:26was going
01:21:26to put
01:21:27their silver
01:21:27star on
01:21:28the line
01:21:28for William
01:21:29Reese
01:21:29I promise
01:21:31you that
01:21:32Jimmy did
01:21:32if Ranger
01:21:34Holland had
01:21:35not been
01:21:35able to
01:21:36develop that
01:21:37kind of
01:21:37rapport
01:21:37with Reese
01:21:38and get
01:21:39Reese to
01:21:40talk
01:21:40we would
01:21:41never
01:21:42ever
01:21:43have found
01:21:44Jessica
01:21:44Kane
01:21:44or Kelly
01:21:45Cox
01:21:47the ability
01:21:48to establish
01:21:49a rapport
01:21:50with psychopaths
01:21:51and serial
01:21:52killers
01:21:52is not
01:21:53something you
01:21:54find
01:21:54in just
01:21:55anybody
01:21:55and I
01:21:56think
01:21:57many of
01:21:58us in
01:21:58law
01:21:58enforcement
01:21:59and I
01:21:59know
01:21:59many families
01:22:00are indebted
01:22:01to him
01:22:02for that
01:22:02could anyone
01:22:04else have
01:22:04gotten
01:22:05Reese
01:22:05to talk
01:22:06I mean
01:22:07it had
01:22:07been 20
01:22:08years
01:22:09and a lot
01:22:09of people
01:22:10made runs
01:22:11at him
01:22:11I don't
01:22:11know
01:22:12the answer
01:22:13to that
01:22:13but I
01:22:14know what
01:22:15I brought
01:22:15in that
01:22:15room
01:22:16was things
01:22:17that Reese
01:22:17had never
01:22:18seen before
01:22:19at the end
01:22:20of the day
01:22:20what it took
01:22:22to ultimately
01:22:22get the four
01:22:23confessions
01:22:24and to
01:22:25recover the
01:22:25bodies
01:22:26it was
01:22:27different
01:22:29I don't know
01:22:29if anyone
01:22:30else would have
01:22:30brought in
01:22:30that type
01:22:31of difference
01:22:32I can't
01:22:33think of a
01:22:33case that's
01:22:34crossed my
01:22:35desk
01:22:35that I don't
01:22:36think has
01:22:37a possibility
01:22:38of being
01:22:39solved
01:22:39you have
01:22:40to believe
01:22:41in what
01:22:41you're doing
01:22:42and you have
01:22:42to be willing
01:22:43to put it
01:22:43all out there
01:22:45and the job
01:22:46of a ranger
01:22:47I believe
01:22:47is to stand
01:22:48up for those
01:22:49who can't
01:22:49stand up
01:22:50for themselves
01:22:50and no one
01:22:52needs to get
01:22:53away
01:22:53with murder
01:22:55you
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