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Homicide: New York - Season 3 - Episode 04: Your Eyes Or Your Life
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23:19You have to track down each one of these leads.
23:23Unfortunately, in this case, none of them work out.
23:27I knew, you know, women were raped in New York and all over the country.
23:30You know, I knew this happened.
23:33But I didn't dwell on it.
23:35You just try to live carefully.
23:37You think it's going to happen at night or a neighborhood that maybe is not so safe or whatever,
23:43but it was just a beautiful afternoon.
23:46You just don't think it will happen then.
23:50I came up to New York to go to a small fashion school.
23:53It was Saturday afternoon, and I heard a knock on the door.
23:58I opened the door, and he put his hand on my face like that, and I think kind of pushed
24:01me back.
24:04You could feel the anger.
24:06You knew he was just a ball of rage.
24:09He raped me, I think, twice, and part of the memory is something that sort of gets muddled,
24:15or lost, or locked away.
24:19He wanted to take my bank card and get money.
24:23And then he said, I don't trust you.
24:25I'm going to have to tie you up or kill you.
24:27But I said, I'll get you scarves, you know.
24:29And so I had to walk by the door to go get the scarves.
24:33It was a tiny studio apartment, but he let me have that much distance, which was rare, because he was
24:38on me.
24:40Something said to me, get out, get out, get out.
24:43You've got one chance.
24:44Take it.
24:46I ran out screaming.
24:48He was inches behind me, and I ran into the super.
24:52I don't know what I said.
24:53I was raped.
24:54He's right behind me or something like that.
24:57Super caught him, and someone else caught him, and then held him for the police.
25:08We had a call that a uniform had a perpetrator under arrest.
25:13He gives his name, Matias Reyes, and without being asked or prompted, he says, I did it.
25:21He was an 18-year-old, quiet, 5'10", dark complexion.
25:27Once the detectives were interviewing him, they kind of realized that this could be the perpetrator from the previous rapes
25:34and the homicide.
25:35So we have the DA come down.
25:37They're beginning to see that the pattern is coming together, and he may be involved in the homicide.
25:44All of them involved young women.
25:46All of them involved either a ruse or a push-in.
25:51All of them occurred within a 20-block area.
25:54All of them involved the use of a knife.
25:57Robbery and rape.
26:01They wanted me to come down to the station immediately to identify, just to take a look at a lineup.
26:06That's all they said.
26:08Just one glimpse, and I knew who it was.
26:11I was shaking with fear.
26:13It was a visceral reaction.
26:15There was no doubt that this was the guy.
26:19No doubt.
26:20I remember hearing that he was arrested, and I had to go meet the detective.
26:29Seeing him was shocking.
26:33He was wearing the same shirt that he wore, and it was very concrete.
26:40Like, I knew that was him.
26:43He told detectives that he made love to these girls.
26:47He's a sick individual.
26:50He says that he committed multiple rapes, but Reyes denies any involvement with the Lourdes-Gonzalez homicide.
27:00And at that point, Reyes is shown a sketch that had been put together from the children of Lourdes-Gonzalez.
27:11Mateus looks at it, and the detective says, look familiar?
27:16And Mateus says, yes, looks like me.
27:19And looked at the detectives and said, I'm fucked.
27:24Mateus Reyes begins to give a confession to the murder of Lourdes-Gonzalez.
27:31We get in on video.
27:33At times, he would rant and rave, really angry.
27:37At other times, he was remorseful.
27:41Say, mommy, screaming.
27:43And she was, like, tossing me and screaming.
27:46He says that Lourdes-Gonzalez, she grabbed the knife, but she was shaking.
27:52She was scared.
27:53He says that he took the knife off her, and that's how he eventually killed her.
27:59When this occurred, I had a nine-year-old and a one-year-old.
28:04So I could relate to the need to protect your children.
28:08You have to feel for her that the idea that someone could be so brutalized, to be stabbed nine times,
28:16it made me sick.
28:17Mateus Reyes, he's someone who has impulsive rage.
28:22He's a ticking time bomb.
28:24He was formally charged with four counts of rape.
28:27First degree, sodomy, burglary, and assault with a deadly weapon.
28:33And one count of homicide.
28:35Locally, 18-year-old Mateus Reyes is charged with a series of brutal rapes on Manhattan's east side, one of
28:41which ended in murder.
28:43When I saw he murdered Lourdes, that's what hurt the most, was that I was alive and she was not.
28:51I remember receiving the news and feeling a sense of relief.
29:00I remember seeing it in the papers.
29:02He got caught when I seen the picture.
29:05And I remember him.
29:08So I already knew that that was him.
29:15And I get a phone call from my sergeant.
29:17She says, Irma, does Mateus Reyes ring a bell to you?
29:22I go, yeah.
29:24On April 17, 1989, I had his name as a possible suspect on a case that I had involving a
29:31rape that occurred in Central Park on 106th Street on the east side.
29:34My case in Central Park was two days prior to the Central Park jockey case.
29:41We interviewed the victim.
29:43And one thing that she noticed was that he had fresh stitches on his chin.
29:48Back then, in 1989, a lot of the hospitals used to have a log in the emergency room who came
29:53in and what they came in for.
29:56So what we did was we went to every hospital.
29:58We checked the log.
30:00There was one guy who has fresh stitches on his chin, and the name on that particular entry was Mateus
30:06Reyes.
30:08I did background checks.
30:10He had no criminal record at all.
30:12There was no photo on file for him.
30:13There was nothing.
30:14And then my boss pulls me off the case and puts me into the child abuse team.
30:21I had no choice, so I was kind of a little pissed off.
30:24So it's like the case just died.
30:28It's an unfortunate thing that the leadership of the Special Victims Unit pulled Erma off this case and put her
30:33on another case.
30:35But you have to remember, this is 1989, and we're seeing tremendous big crime waves that are pushing our resources
30:44to the edge.
30:47The name Mateus, you know, it always stuck in my head.
30:50When Sergeant McLaughlin called me that day and told me that that was the person who killed...
31:01When she told me that it was the person that killed that mother in front of the kids, it made
31:06me feel so horrible.
31:09And it made me feel horrible for years and years.
31:12I've always thought about them.
31:18If I had caught him on that case, I know that things would have been completely different.
31:23All these other victims would have not been victimized.
31:25Those kids would have lost their mother.
31:28And that's the part that bothered me the most.
31:34You know...
31:39Cases were, children are involved.
31:42It's tough on detectives.
31:45Erma, as far as I'm concerned, one of the best detectives I ever worked with.
31:49She really cared about what she was doing.
31:55You are looking at a man police believe is a rapist and a cold-blooded killer.
31:5918-year-old Mateus Reyes.
32:03So I went into work that day.
32:05When I got into the office, I was shown a picture of him.
32:08And when I see his picture, I go, that's Mateus Reyes.
32:11I know him.
32:12I knew him since he was a little boy.
32:13Like, I knew him.
32:14He worked around the corner from the 2-3 precinct.
32:17In this bodega, Reyes served coffee to cops from the nearby precinct.
32:21For me, he's a good guy.
32:23One of the best.
32:24I was in the 2-3 from 1982 to 1987.
32:27So I saw him all the time.
32:29I never knew what his name was, but I just knew of him as the kid that worked in the
32:33store.
32:34Then I started thinking, wait a minute.
32:35I definitely brought Carlos and Tony to that store to buy them candy.
32:40I know he wasn't there then, but still, ugh, that bothers me.
32:47We did learn from talking to Irma Rivera that they had even identified a person by the name of Mateus
32:54Reyes as the possible perpetrator in another case.
32:57But unfortunately, the victim left the state of New York, and any attempt to find the victim was unsuccessful.
33:04In 1989, it was kind of the frontier for the use of DNA.
33:10We submitted DNA evidence samples from the three rapes and the fourth rape and homicide of Lordez Gonzalez to the
33:17FBI.
33:18All of the cases matched the DNA of Mateus Reyes.
33:23And so, Mateus Reyes decided to plead guilty.
33:30This sentencing hearing doesn't pass without incident.
33:34Reyes ends up turning his rage on his defense lawyer and assaults him in open court.
33:42Like, who would do that?
33:44How could you sabotage yourself in that way?
33:46But he couldn't control his violence.
33:49He was sentenced to 33 and a third years.
33:53Eventually, he became eligible for parole.
33:57He has the option of coming out.
33:59He has the option of coming out.
34:01So, how am I supposed to live a life knowing that he could potentially come out?
34:06Why?
34:09At this point, we think this is the end of the criminal reign of Mateus Reyes.
34:16But we were to learn later that there were other crimes that he committed that we did not know that
34:23he did.
34:362002, Mateus Reyes called the district attorney's office and wanted to speak to someone regarding some information he wanted to
34:43give them.
34:43A man has come forward by the name of Mateus Reyes.
34:47He claims that he alone attacked and raped the woman in Central Park back in 1989.
34:59Mateus Reyes claims that he's involved in the 1989 Central Park Jogger case.
35:06It's not shocking and unusual for somebody to interject themselves in a media case, whether they're involved or not.
35:12The unusual piece of this was his claim to act alone.
35:18By the time Mateus Reyes came forward and said that he alone was responsible for the rape of Trisha Miley,
35:26known as the Central Park Jogger,
35:28five other young men had been convicted and served long prison sentences for this crime.
35:35They always said that they were innocent and always proclaimed it whenever possible.
35:40And in fact, one of them, Corey Wise, actually encountered Reyes in prison and had some kind of altercation.
35:49And that may have contributed to why Reyes came forward.
35:53Eventually, the NYPD decides to form an investigative task force that I led to look into Mateus Reyes' role in
36:02the Central Park Jogger case.
36:03We know that there was John Doe's DNA in that case that was never identified.
36:10So they got DNA samples from Mateus Reyes and matched them up.
36:15Mateus Reyes absolutely did rape the Central Park Jogger, Patricia Miley, because it was his DNA that was recovered on
36:25the morning she was brought to the hospital.
36:28I wish we had had a DNA data bank back in 89, 90, and 91, because that would have allowed
36:37us to connect all of these cases.
36:39It's not just about convicting defendants.
36:42It's also about exonerating the innocent.
36:45So with the new information that Mateus Reyes is the unknown DNA and that he says he acted alone, the
36:55five defendants' cases were vacated, and rightfully so.
37:02It's a people's victory, and I think that's what we have to draw from it.
37:08Unfortunately, this will be a black mark on NYPD's relations with the black community for years to come.
37:18I was happy for the five young men that were falsely accused, but it really did nothing for me other
37:25than, like, rehash some emotions and feelings and memories.
37:34Did you attack the Central Park Jogger?
37:37Yes.
37:38It was on 2020, and I'm like, what?
37:41You know, like, what the fuck?
37:43Having the past resurface is like life telling you, you know what?
37:49This is always going to be there, and there's no such thing as a fresh start.
37:55I just got angry all over again.
38:00The injustice that was done to the Central Park Five needed to be undone, but a parallel injustice happened to
38:08all of Matias Reyes' other victims.
38:11And so in 2019, I wrote a piece for the cut called Before and After the Jogger.
38:17I ended up speaking not only to Lourdes' children, but I also spoke with the three women whose sexual assaults
38:27Reyes was convicted of.
38:29These were the people who were written out of the story of what we now put under the umbrella of
38:35the Central Park Jogger case.
38:38She deserved her story to be told, and what better way to tell it than with her kids.
38:45I just, I thank her for everything she did for me.
38:51I always feel bad that she never got to meet what an amazing woman her mom was.
38:59Just the stories that I get from my brothers.
39:03She was an amazing person.
39:06Regardless of whether she's here physically, I feel like she's guided me.
39:12This happened in 1989, so any sports I played, that was my jersey number, just paying homage to my mom.
39:22I feel like she was just somebody putting my path to lead me to something bigger.
39:33She told me to value education and make sure that I set a good example, and I did.
39:38And I kind of helped instill those things in my own kids now.
39:46I felt guilty.
39:48I went to those stages of just being angry and blaming myself and blaming others.
39:58It's done a lot of damage to me because it was just destroying me mentally.
40:06Anybody talks about the case that haunts you, the case of Lourdes Gonzalez haunted me for years and years and
40:13years.
40:16Hi, Carlos.
40:19So nice to see you.
40:23I'm sorry.
40:26So, it was important for me to meet Carlos.
40:29This case bothered me so much.
40:32I had his name on another case.
40:34I want to apologize to him because I feel like if I had gotten him, this would have happened.
40:40I was never mad at her.
40:42I would never want her to live life like that.
40:46The only person I'm angry at is Rez.
40:49Right.
40:50Rez deserves...
40:52He deserves misery.
40:53Don't give your power away to him at all.
40:56My life has been a mess.
40:58I've been incarcerated in and out.
41:01How many felonies do you have?
41:03I got three gun possessions.
41:07Okay.
41:08A homicide.
41:09I became a product of the streets.
41:12And there's always a beef.
41:14And there's always retribution.
41:16And I grew up wanting to destroy anything that destroys me or my family.
41:22And that's a never-ending cycle.
41:24Your life is not over.
41:26You can still do a lot for yourself.
41:27You know that?
41:28Your mother wanted to give you such a good childhood.
41:31Now is your time to honor your mother and have a good manhood.
41:36Yeah.
41:37I'm still striving for better.
41:41I'm still a work in progress.
41:43I'm on the path of doing better.
41:46And my mom deserves it.
41:54I was aware that there were two other women victims, survivors.
42:00But we didn't get to meet.
42:02We didn't get to talk.
42:04So I wrote a letter and I said, we all went through the same thing.
42:07And it's absolutely horrible.
42:10But it would be nice if we could be there for each other.
42:13Because only we know and understand what each of us has been through.
42:24And we all decided to meet and get together multiple times over the years.
42:29Every year the date would come and I'd say, forget what the date is.
42:33Forget what happened.
42:33Just go about your life.
42:34Forget, forget, forget.
42:35And last year I thought, why?
42:37So I invited my friends for dinner and I had a fuck you, I'm still here party.
42:41I did.
42:43Melissa, Meg and I have this friendship.
42:47We all are connected by this horrific story.
42:52But we're also connected by love.
42:55I thought to myself, my God, these other girls, they went through the same thing I did.
43:00Yeah.
43:00We have to become friends.
43:02It was like revolutionary to meet you.
43:06Yeah.
43:07Having them, I feel very lucky.
43:10I don't know what I would have done without them.
43:16Lourdes is one of us.
43:18She is a fighter.
43:20I've thought about her a lot.
43:22I really felt for her and I really felt for her family.
43:27Lourdes isn't here to speak.
43:30So we wanted to kind of honor her and her family and to say that we never forgot Lourdes.
43:38I want people to know her and be like she was more than just this little footnote.
43:43Lourdes was important.
44:00Lourdes was important.
44:01Lourdes was important.
44:01Lourdes was important.
44:02Lourdes was important.
44:03Lourdes was important.
44:04Lourdes was important.
44:06Lourdes was important.
44:08Lourdes was important.
44:11Lourdes was important.
44:12Lourdes was important.
44:15Lourdes was important.
44:17Lourdes was important.
44:17Lourdes was important.
44:18Lourdes was important.
44:18Lourdes was important.
44:29I don't think the NYPD or the city of New York
44:33ever saw this coming.
44:36Go, go, go!
44:39Heading down towards one-inch mile station.
44:42My Aunt Joanne, she worked in the North Tower.
44:45I'm like, how the fuck am I getting up there
44:47to get her out of there?
44:47The second building just failed.
44:5078th floor of a building that's on fire,
44:52and I don't know how to get out of here.
44:53Go, go, go!
44:55The tower's coming down!
44:58The lieutenant says, fucking run!
45:03I see a bunch of EMS.
45:05He was like, we're going to go back into the building.
45:07There's people in there that need to be removed.
45:09So I was like, okay, I'm not going to have a fireman embarrass me,
45:12so I'm going to stay.
45:14One thing about 9-11,
45:14it helped me get used to the smell of death.
45:18You find out what you're really made of.
45:20You find out what it is to be a team player.
45:23You're not dead.
45:25You have to work.
45:26All right.
45:28All right.
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