WEBVTT 00:06.798 --> 00:08.800 [ambient street noise] 00:31.239 --> 00:33.241 [pensive guitar music playing] 00:39.664 --> 00:42.125 [Wagner] In the '90s, East Harlem, 00:43.334 --> 00:46.713 a series of murders and rapes were taking place in the neighborhood. 00:46.796 --> 00:48.381 [foreboding music playing] 00:48.465 --> 00:51.801 All of the victims were innocent young girls 00:51.885 --> 00:53.803 found strangled and stabbed. 00:54.554 --> 00:59.267 [Plansky] "Serial killers." That phrase gets thrown around a lot. 01:00.310 --> 01:01.436 He was one of them. 01:01.519 --> 01:03.980 [foreboding music swells] 01:04.981 --> 01:06.775 We created a task force 01:06.858 --> 01:10.153 with some of the very best detectives I've ever worked with. 01:11.321 --> 01:15.075 We had a very bad person in East Harlem that needed to go. 01:15.158 --> 01:19.996 [Plansky] I don't think I've ever wanted something more in my entire life 01:20.080 --> 01:22.749 than to get justice for those people. 01:23.249 --> 01:25.543 [foreboding music trails off] 01:26.669 --> 01:29.464 [Mooney] Every single case takes a little piece out of your soul. 01:29.547 --> 01:32.050 [suspenseful music playing] 01:32.133 --> 01:36.054 [Butcher] You cannot do this job unless you really care. 01:38.139 --> 01:40.266 [McNeely] You want to find out the truth. 01:41.518 --> 01:43.061 That's what detectives do. 01:43.645 --> 01:46.022 [man] I've always liked the peek behind the curtain. 01:46.106 --> 01:47.857 What really happened? 01:48.358 --> 01:52.028 [Rivera] It's so important for a family to know who murdered their relative. 01:52.112 --> 01:53.154 That's my job. 01:53.738 --> 01:58.034 [Titus] In New York City, the NYPD… 02:00.995 --> 02:02.205 This is it. 02:02.956 --> 02:04.958 [suspenseful music trails off] 02:07.836 --> 02:09.838 [vibrant, energetic salsa music playing] 02:15.176 --> 02:17.095 [Rivera] I worked in Spanish Harlem. 02:17.178 --> 02:21.766 I was assigned there in '83 as a rookie cop on patrol. 02:23.059 --> 02:25.979 East Harlem was a very big Hispanic community, 02:26.062 --> 02:28.940 and I was the only female Hispanic in my precinct when I got there. 02:31.067 --> 02:33.570 [Wagner] I spent a lot of my career in East Harlem. 02:33.653 --> 02:35.488 The vibe is incredible. 02:35.572 --> 02:38.241 There's always music in the background, 24/7. 02:38.324 --> 02:40.743 [vibrant salsa music continuing] 02:41.828 --> 02:46.374 I worked in that neighborhood in uniform, then six years in plain clothes, 02:46.457 --> 02:49.085 before I got into the detective bureau. 02:49.168 --> 02:51.296 I loved working in that neighborhood. 02:51.379 --> 02:53.131 When I was a rookie cop in uniform, 02:53.214 --> 02:55.675 I was working on a foot post in Spanish Harlem. 02:55.758 --> 03:00.013 It was a completely vibrant place. There's always people doing something. 03:00.096 --> 03:01.931 Good things, for the most part. 03:02.015 --> 03:04.017 [train rumbling] 03:07.061 --> 03:08.563 [warped audio distorting] 03:13.067 --> 03:16.487 [Wagner] On June 2nd, my phone rang at about 6:30. 03:16.571 --> 03:19.115 We had a homicide. 03:19.198 --> 03:21.534 Project building in East Harlem. 03:23.161 --> 03:26.080 [tense, erratic music playing] 03:29.792 --> 03:33.254 When I got to the crime scene, the victim was in the stairwell. 03:33.338 --> 03:37.800 She looked to be 19 to 20, a light-skinned Black female. 03:37.884 --> 03:39.385 It was a hub of activity. 03:40.720 --> 03:43.765 You have the uniformed members that are securing the scene. 03:43.848 --> 03:47.227 You have the Crime Scene Unit, which gather physical evidence. 03:47.769 --> 03:52.232 There was no signs of blunt force trauma, no stab wounds, no gunshot wounds. 03:53.066 --> 03:57.862 We surmised that she had to be asphyxiated. 03:58.947 --> 04:01.157 [Plansky] There was no identification. 04:01.241 --> 04:04.827 No school ID card, driver's license, or anything like that. 04:05.912 --> 04:08.748 So the detectives canvassed the building. 04:09.499 --> 04:12.335 [Wagner] We took Polaroid pictures of her face 04:12.418 --> 04:15.755 so we could show everyone in the building that we knocked on their door. 04:15.838 --> 04:17.966 "Do you recognize this young lady?" 04:18.049 --> 04:22.011 We had gotten in contact with a person in every apartment. 04:22.095 --> 04:25.223 It's a 20-story building, maybe ten apartments on a floor. 04:25.306 --> 04:26.766 We had no luck. 04:27.475 --> 04:30.853 She obviously didn't live there. She wasn't seeing anyone that lived there. 04:30.937 --> 04:32.939 [tense music pulsing] 04:39.362 --> 04:42.532 When we checked to see if the precinct had any missing person reports filed 04:42.615 --> 04:44.409 in the prior 36 hours, 04:44.993 --> 04:49.872 we came upon this one that fit the general description of our victim. 04:50.999 --> 04:54.419 The young woman who'd been reported missing the night before by her family 04:54.502 --> 04:56.254 was Rasheda Washington. 04:59.882 --> 05:02.760 I remember a team of detectives went to her family 05:02.844 --> 05:04.095 with the Polaroid photo. 05:04.178 --> 05:06.097 [somber music playing] 05:06.180 --> 05:07.223 It's not easy. 05:07.932 --> 05:09.350 It's never easy. 05:10.018 --> 05:11.686 How could this even happen? 05:12.186 --> 05:13.187 [stifles sob] 05:15.648 --> 05:17.400 She was just stolen from us. 05:21.237 --> 05:24.741 It's hard to function 'cause you just don't even remember. 05:24.824 --> 05:28.745 'Cause it's like you're just walking around like you're in a dream. 05:30.204 --> 05:33.249 [woman] I just kept screaming and crying. 05:33.332 --> 05:36.252 "They killed my baby. They killed my baby." 05:37.337 --> 05:39.464 [man] Rasheda was my twin sister. 05:39.964 --> 05:43.134 Being a twin is like y'all got a special bond 05:43.217 --> 05:45.470 the minute y'all come in this world. 05:46.095 --> 05:49.182 Being that we was born together, I thought we would die together. 05:52.643 --> 05:56.814 Family was able to provide us with a complete background on their daughter. 05:58.775 --> 06:03.279 Rasheda and her brother were born and raised in New York. 06:05.073 --> 06:07.533 [Racquel] When Rasheda graduated from high school, 06:07.617 --> 06:10.661 she was accepted to Fashion Institute of Technology, 06:10.745 --> 06:13.498 one of the top schools for fashion. 06:13.581 --> 06:16.959 We graduated June 15th, 1997. 06:17.043 --> 06:18.294 She was just excited. 06:20.797 --> 06:26.135 She was a typical 18-year-old going through college and had a job. 06:27.512 --> 06:30.098 [woman] She had a plan for herself, she had a plan for her life, 06:30.181 --> 06:31.974 and she was going after it. 06:34.102 --> 06:36.562 [voice breaking] At 18 years old, you don't… 06:36.646 --> 06:41.317 you don't think you're gonna lose somebody so close to you, and so tragically. 06:42.402 --> 06:45.988 She was this vibrant and amazing person. 06:47.365 --> 06:49.367 And she was just gone. 06:49.450 --> 06:52.370 [Wagner] What we learned was she was a good student, 06:52.453 --> 06:55.581 good daughter, good sister. They were a tight family. 06:55.665 --> 06:58.000 [pensive, somber music playing] 07:02.547 --> 07:04.048 [Butcher] This was a homicide. 07:04.549 --> 07:09.554 Autopsy revealed that she died by asphyxiation. 07:09.637 --> 07:13.099 Chest compression as well as neck compression. 07:15.309 --> 07:18.271 We learned at autopsy that she was sexually assaulted. 07:18.354 --> 07:22.942 Biological fluids and DNA were found on the victim. 07:23.025 --> 07:27.113 The DNA profile developed was compared to databases, 07:27.613 --> 07:31.742 but they didn't match to anyone in the national database 07:31.826 --> 07:34.036 or any suspects at the time. 07:35.746 --> 07:37.623 [Rivera] When I worked for Special Victims Unit, 07:37.707 --> 07:41.752 I saw cases where the rape is not for sexual gratification. 07:41.836 --> 07:44.964 A lot has to do with hate, anger towards the women, 07:45.047 --> 07:46.883 or men, or children, whoever they rape. 07:47.467 --> 07:53.347 Sexual assault and strangulation are about power and control. 07:55.099 --> 07:57.185 It says a lot about the killer. 07:57.977 --> 08:02.231 They're weak, and this is a way for them to feel strong. 08:04.233 --> 08:06.235 [tense music playing] 08:07.737 --> 08:10.948 [Plansky] In 1998, I was coming off of the Central Park homicide. 08:12.283 --> 08:15.828 Pretty early on, there was a high degree of collaboration 08:15.912 --> 08:18.831 between the police and the assistant DAs 08:18.915 --> 08:22.084 because we recognized that we both needed each other. 08:22.793 --> 08:24.503 [Butcher] The DA is in everything. 08:24.587 --> 08:29.842 They hear every single aspect of the case in all its horror. 08:30.551 --> 08:33.387 [Planksy] I was assigned to that Rasheda Washington case. 08:33.471 --> 08:36.432 Everybody wanted to solve this as quickly as possible. 08:37.016 --> 08:38.184 [steady ticking] 08:38.267 --> 08:42.188 [Wagner] Rasheda Washington lived on 1st Avenue with her family 08:42.271 --> 08:45.316 in a development called 1199 Plaza. 08:45.399 --> 08:48.861 She was found eight blocks away from home. 08:49.445 --> 08:54.033 So we're trying to develop a timeline to narrow things down. 08:54.116 --> 08:59.080 The last time that anybody saw Rasheda alive was at around 9:30. 09:00.122 --> 09:03.251 -[Racquel] She was working at Express. -[Helen] On 34th Street. 09:03.334 --> 09:04.627 -[Racquel] On 34th Street. -Yes. 09:04.710 --> 09:08.839 -She used to be home at about ten o'clock. -Yeah, ten o'clock at night. 09:09.882 --> 09:13.719 [Plansky] She'd finished for the day, said her goodbyes to her coworkers, 09:13.803 --> 09:17.723 and headed, they believed, to the subway, which is what she did every night. 09:18.349 --> 09:21.060 [Wagner] She would normally get off the subway 09:21.644 --> 09:23.896 at East 110th Street and Lexington Avenue, 09:24.397 --> 09:28.985 and then walk from Lexington to 1st, to her apartment building. 09:29.068 --> 09:33.239 We knew she lived on 1st Avenue, about 109th Street. 09:33.322 --> 09:36.450 The security guard was found that worked that shift. 09:36.534 --> 09:38.995 They recalled seeing her every night, but not this night. 09:39.078 --> 09:43.958 We knew her body was found 5:00, 6:00 in the morning the next day, 09:44.041 --> 09:46.002 eight blocks away from home. 09:46.502 --> 09:52.425 How did she get to the stairwell on the 15th floor at 1345 5th Avenue? 09:53.718 --> 09:55.136 Nobody really knew. 09:55.219 --> 09:57.513 [unsettling music playing] 09:57.597 --> 09:59.515 She was pretty much a homebody. 09:59.598 --> 10:04.228 She went to school, went to work. She had never stayed out all night. Never. 10:05.688 --> 10:07.398 We couldn't understand 10:07.982 --> 10:11.360 how she ended up in the location she was found in. 10:11.861 --> 10:15.239 I remember, um, specifically being asked, 10:15.323 --> 10:17.158 "Was there anyone maybe 10:17.241 --> 10:21.495 when we were hanging out in the neighborhood that caught your eye?" 10:21.579 --> 10:23.331 And I couldn't think of anything. 10:23.831 --> 10:25.458 [suspenseful music playing] 10:25.541 --> 10:27.668 [Racquel] Rasheda did have a boyfriend. 10:28.836 --> 10:31.839 When she didn't come home that night, I'm like, 10:31.922 --> 10:36.886 "Did she decide to spend the night out or do something out of the norm?" 10:36.969 --> 10:39.889 Detectives asked me if I knew of her boyfriend, and I said, 10:39.972 --> 10:43.517 "Yes, I knew him. I saw them together. I spent time with them." 10:43.601 --> 10:47.355 So I had zero inkling that he would do anything like that, 10:47.438 --> 10:48.814 or harm Rasheda at all. 10:49.857 --> 10:52.151 I said, "What's his name? Where does he live?" 10:52.818 --> 10:54.236 We talked to him. 10:54.904 --> 10:59.200 There was nothing that came out of that interview with her boyfriend 10:59.283 --> 11:03.120 that led us to believe that he was in any way responsible. 11:03.204 --> 11:04.789 He was pretty distraught. 11:07.124 --> 11:09.543 [Wagner] We talked to everyone she knew. 11:10.044 --> 11:15.466 Did she have acquaintances, schoolmates, or coworkers that were shady, 11:15.549 --> 11:19.762 that could have gotten her involved in something that resulted in her death? 11:19.845 --> 11:23.724 But these kids she associated with, they had a goal in life, 11:23.808 --> 11:25.893 and they were going for it as she was. 11:25.976 --> 11:29.105 And it was nice to hear, but it was also frustrating, 11:29.188 --> 11:31.816 the fact that it didn't provide us any leads. 11:32.441 --> 11:34.944 All the businesses in the neighborhood 11:35.027 --> 11:39.240 had flyers in the window to see if we could generate any tips calls. 11:39.323 --> 11:41.367 [unsettling music playing] 11:41.450 --> 11:46.580 We didn't know if she was kidnapped at some point in time 11:47.081 --> 11:49.375 or she went willingly with someone. 11:49.458 --> 11:51.836 You're looking for these idiosyncrasies. 11:51.919 --> 11:56.507 You're looking for something that jumps out off the page at you, 11:56.590 --> 11:57.717 to help you. 11:58.801 --> 11:59.844 We had nothing. 12:00.428 --> 12:02.430 We were basically stuck in the mud. 12:02.513 --> 12:03.848 We had no leads. 12:03.931 --> 12:05.933 [foreboding music playing] 12:13.399 --> 12:16.110 [Plansky] Months after the Rasheda Washington homicide, 12:16.193 --> 12:19.405 a 15-year-old girl was coming home to her family 12:20.531 --> 12:22.241 at the Paladino houses. 12:23.200 --> 12:26.579 She goes to the elevator, presses the button for the elevator. 12:26.662 --> 12:28.289 A man comes up behind her. 12:28.372 --> 12:30.332 He threatens her with a knife. 12:30.416 --> 12:32.126 He forces her into a stairwell. 12:32.710 --> 12:33.878 He rapes her. 12:33.961 --> 12:37.089 He steals her jewelry. And then he leaves her. 12:37.173 --> 12:38.966 [sirens wailing] 12:39.049 --> 12:40.342 Police respond. 12:40.968 --> 12:44.263 In that stairwell, the police find two things. 12:44.346 --> 12:47.349 A FUBU sweatshirt and a baseball cap. 12:48.058 --> 12:51.353 And this 15-year-old girl immediately tells them, 12:51.437 --> 12:54.899 "That guy was wearing those articles of clothing." 12:55.483 --> 12:58.152 "He had on that sweatshirt. He had on that ball cap." 12:58.235 --> 13:02.072 They sent that FUBU sweatshirt, baseball cap, and the rape kit 13:02.156 --> 13:05.367 to the medical examiner's office for forensic analysis. 13:06.660 --> 13:08.662 [tense, curious music playing] 13:13.542 --> 13:15.878 On January 6th, 1999, 13:15.961 --> 13:20.299 we got a notification from the medical examiner's office, 13:20.382 --> 13:21.675 and that changed everything. 13:22.259 --> 13:25.387 There was no physical evidence on the sweatshirt or the ball cap. 13:25.471 --> 13:30.226 But DNA from the semen found in Rasheda Washington's body 13:30.309 --> 13:34.230 matched the semen that was recovered from the Paladino rape victim. 13:34.313 --> 13:37.191 It was the same person responsible for both crimes. 13:37.274 --> 13:39.276 [focused, inquisitive music playing] 13:42.238 --> 13:44.073 [Wagner] It was an uplifting moment, 13:44.615 --> 13:47.868 because now we can connect the cases together, 13:47.952 --> 13:50.663 but it was frustrating in the fact that 13:50.746 --> 13:52.915 we still don't know who this individual is. 13:52.998 --> 13:56.585 [Plansky] Two weeks later, we got a call from the medical examiner's office that 13:56.669 --> 14:00.631 another young woman in the same area was raped. 14:01.382 --> 14:03.259 She was 13 years old. 14:04.343 --> 14:06.679 Terrified, threatened with a knife, 14:06.762 --> 14:09.473 blindfolded with an article of her own clothing. 14:09.557 --> 14:13.477 Sexually assaulted and robbed in a very dark stairwell. 14:13.561 --> 14:17.356 A rape kit was taken, and the evidence in that rape kit 14:17.439 --> 14:20.651 matched the Paladino rape case and the Rasheda Washington murder. 14:20.734 --> 14:24.989 The victims were all similar in stature, similar in age. 14:25.990 --> 14:30.703 They were petite, young, Hispanic or light-skinned Black. 14:31.203 --> 14:34.873 And also they were all in pretty close proximity. 14:35.624 --> 14:37.084 [Plansky] So now we have pattern. 14:37.585 --> 14:41.422 This is a serial rapist and murderer who's out on the street. 14:41.505 --> 14:44.675 The investigation really took on a lot of momentum. 14:44.758 --> 14:46.552 We kicked into overdrive. 14:47.428 --> 14:50.681 The 15-year-old girl that was raped in the Paladino houses, 14:50.764 --> 14:52.725 that became the name of the task force. 14:53.309 --> 14:58.564 The Paladino task force was sort of an Island of Misfit Toys. 14:58.647 --> 15:01.984 We had some folks from the DA's office, 15:02.067 --> 15:03.485 John Irwin and myself, 15:03.569 --> 15:08.407 and a real array of characters who happen to be amazing detectives. 15:08.490 --> 15:10.409 There was Scott Wagner, 15:10.492 --> 15:14.288 one of the most passionate detectives I've ever worked with. 15:14.371 --> 15:17.416 We had Rob Mooney. He can be very empathetic. 15:17.499 --> 15:19.460 He's excellent with victims. 15:19.543 --> 15:21.420 I met Bob Mooney in a bar. 15:21.503 --> 15:24.340 I used to hang out in a bar called Phebe's on the Bowery. 15:24.882 --> 15:27.593 [Mooney] She was talking to somebody else on the other side of her, 15:27.676 --> 15:29.803 and the conversation was in Spanish. 15:29.887 --> 15:32.848 After a while, she realized, 'cause Irma's extremely perceptive, 15:32.931 --> 15:35.267 that I looked like I was listening. 15:35.351 --> 15:37.603 I could see it coming. I looked at her, and said… 15:37.686 --> 15:39.229 [in Spanish] "Take it easy, sweetheart." 15:39.313 --> 15:42.650 "It's very dangerous when you don't know who you're talking to." 15:42.733 --> 15:45.277 [in English] And she's like, "What the fuck?" 15:45.361 --> 15:47.613 I was like, "Wow, you speak Spanish?" 15:47.696 --> 15:50.240 You look at Bob Mooney, you'd never think he speaks Spanish, 15:50.324 --> 15:52.993 'cause he's 6'3", male, white, Irish. 15:53.077 --> 15:55.871 He worked in a predominantly Hispanic, Dominican neighborhood. 15:55.954 --> 15:58.082 He'd have two perps in the back seat of the car. 15:58.165 --> 15:59.959 They'd be talking amongst each other, 16:00.042 --> 16:03.295 saying where they hid the gun, where they hid the drugs. 16:03.379 --> 16:05.964 Bob would be understanding everything they said. 16:09.718 --> 16:13.597 [Wagner] I was a precinct detective, but when the task force was formed, 16:13.681 --> 16:18.227 we were all taken away from our regular duties on the precinct level, 16:18.310 --> 16:22.481 and we were only working on these sets of cases. 16:23.899 --> 16:28.862 The surviving rape victims sat down with the NYPD sketch artist, 16:28.946 --> 16:31.740 and a composite sketch from their description 16:32.449 --> 16:35.327 was drawn and made into a flyer. 16:38.038 --> 16:41.291 [Mooney] It was on every store window, telephone poles. 16:41.375 --> 16:44.044 We plastered East Harlem with copies. 16:44.128 --> 16:46.255 There was a tip line attached to it. 16:51.969 --> 16:55.347 It's unfortunate that the media didn't get involved in this. 16:55.431 --> 16:57.808 They only got involved in it when we called them 16:58.434 --> 17:00.978 to try to generate some coverage 17:01.061 --> 17:05.774 that maybe someone somewhere would read a paper with our picture in it. 17:05.858 --> 17:08.610 [Plansky] I feel like if the victims 17:09.194 --> 17:13.198 weren't young Black and Hispanic girls, 17:13.282 --> 17:15.409 the media would've been more interested. 17:15.909 --> 17:17.077 It is upsetting. 17:17.703 --> 17:20.748 We don't care whether the victim is Black or brown, 17:20.831 --> 17:23.959 or whether the perp is Black or brown, or whether they're white. 17:24.042 --> 17:28.047 We had a very bad person in East Harlem that needed to go. 17:28.130 --> 17:32.259 I'm gonna do the best I can to make sure this person is going to pay for it. 17:34.261 --> 17:36.680 [Plansky] Eight months after the murder of Rasheda Washington, 17:36.764 --> 17:38.515 a call comes into the tip line. 17:39.933 --> 17:41.435 [Wagner] It was from a female, 17:41.518 --> 17:45.355 an anonymous tipster who said that the word on the street 17:45.439 --> 17:50.277 is that Ace was responsible for the murders and rapes 17:50.360 --> 17:52.279 that were taking place in the neighborhood. 17:52.362 --> 17:55.073 The nickname "Ace" sounded very familiar to me. 17:55.157 --> 17:57.659 [Mooney] Scott remembered a cold case that he had in the 2-3, 17:57.743 --> 17:59.995 shot back to the precinct, grabbed the folder, 18:00.079 --> 18:03.499 came back to the homicide squad, and was like, "I think this is the guy." 18:12.674 --> 18:14.676 [bleak, mysterious music playing] 18:16.762 --> 18:19.890 September 10th of '97, I had caught a homicide. 18:19.973 --> 18:21.058 Hispanic girl. 18:21.141 --> 18:26.271 She was about 19, found on the roof of 218 East 104th Street. 18:27.481 --> 18:29.650 She was burned over 90% of her body. 18:31.235 --> 18:33.237 I interviewed Arohn Malik Kee. 18:33.320 --> 18:36.698 A lot of people know him as "Ace." You know, that's his nickname. 18:37.282 --> 18:40.244 His phone number comes up on her telephone records. 18:40.327 --> 18:41.578 I wanted to interview him. 18:43.789 --> 18:47.709 He told me that he and his girlfriend were friends of the victim. 18:47.793 --> 18:49.628 They were supposed to get a bite to eat. 18:50.129 --> 18:52.673 He said that, uh, she never showed up. 18:53.841 --> 18:56.426 He called her, they were supposed to meet, she never came. 18:56.510 --> 18:58.554 He answered every question I put to him. 18:58.637 --> 19:03.642 He showed no outward signs of the things we learn about body language, 19:03.725 --> 19:10.065 the things we pick up in doing interviews on a daily basis over a number of years, 19:10.149 --> 19:12.818 the tells that people have when they're lying. 19:13.443 --> 19:15.571 There was nothing I could put my finger on. 19:15.654 --> 19:20.242 But when the interview concluded, I asked him, 19:20.325 --> 19:22.870 "Do you mind if I take a Polaroid picture of you?" 19:23.787 --> 19:25.455 He says, "Fine. No problem." 19:37.968 --> 19:39.344 [jarring, tense music playing] 19:39.428 --> 19:43.515 I went back into my paperwork, and in the photo, 19:44.057 --> 19:48.687 he was wearing a gray sweatshirt with the FUBU logo on it. 19:48.770 --> 19:51.899 The same sweatshirt left at the scene of one of the rapes. 19:52.399 --> 19:55.652 It looked like the composite was drawn from my Polaroid. 19:56.278 --> 19:57.863 The sketch that was prepared, 19:57.946 --> 20:01.658 it was an absolutely uncanny resemblance to Arohn Kee. 20:02.159 --> 20:06.872 While that doesn't qualify as identification or probable cause, 20:06.955 --> 20:09.750 it certainly gives us a direction to move in. 20:09.833 --> 20:12.586 Arohn Kee is the only suspect at that point. 20:12.669 --> 20:14.546 [tense music continuing] 20:14.630 --> 20:17.507 [Plansky] They run a rap sheet on the name Arohn Kee, 20:17.591 --> 20:21.053 and they see he's got a history of robbery and burglary. 20:21.136 --> 20:23.138 One of the detectives from the 23rd Precinct 20:23.222 --> 20:25.390 saw the way that the first name was spelled. 20:25.474 --> 20:29.227 A-R-O-H-N, sort of an uncommon spelling. 20:29.311 --> 20:32.189 He was like, "Well, what about this case?" 20:32.272 --> 20:34.900 And he ran, and he got the Paola Illera case. 20:36.860 --> 20:39.404 [Plansky] He said, "I think this is part of the pattern." 20:39.488 --> 20:41.156 And he walked us through it. 20:56.088 --> 20:58.340 [Butcher] January of 1991. 21:01.134 --> 21:05.013 A little 13-year-old girl named Paola Illera 21:05.097 --> 21:08.058 was walking home from school in the late afternoon. 21:09.268 --> 21:11.603 [Plansky] Her family lived at 420 East 111th Street, 21:11.687 --> 21:13.105 on the 30th floor. 21:14.022 --> 21:17.401 She buzzed in the lobby to be let in. 21:18.860 --> 21:21.571 Then after a few minutes, they realized, "Where's Paola?" 21:22.614 --> 21:26.326 Somewhere between the lobby and the 30th floor, she's gone. 21:27.327 --> 21:30.706 [woman in Spanish] Around 4:30, my mom calls me and says, 21:30.789 --> 21:32.708 "Paola hasn't shown up." 21:33.292 --> 21:36.586 My brother-in-law thought it was odd, so he called the police. 21:36.670 --> 21:42.384 When I arrived, there was this confusion. I would go all over looking for her. 21:42.467 --> 21:45.721 [in English] While Paola's mother was frantically searching 21:45.804 --> 21:47.973 and wondering where her child was, 21:48.557 --> 21:53.353 a man walking his dog along the East River near the pedestrian bridge 21:53.437 --> 21:56.898 found the body of a small girl stabbed, 21:57.524 --> 22:01.987 strangled, assaulted, raped. 22:02.070 --> 22:05.115 That little girl was Paola Illera, 22:05.198 --> 22:07.784 found just ten blocks from her home. 22:10.954 --> 22:14.750 [in Spanish] I had hope that she was still alive. 22:15.751 --> 22:20.213 Then my brother-in-law says, "Olga, Paola is dead." 22:22.007 --> 22:25.260 And I screamed and said, "That's a lie." 22:25.344 --> 22:29.014 "Why are you lying to me? Why are you doing this to me?" 22:30.015 --> 22:33.101 That's when my brother came in and said, "It's true." 22:34.227 --> 22:35.729 "She's dead." 22:36.229 --> 22:37.230 [shudders] 22:39.316 --> 22:41.318 [mournful music playing] 22:43.904 --> 22:46.156 [in English] Right after Paola's body was discovered, 22:46.239 --> 22:50.327 detectives had canvassed the entire building of 420 East 111th Street, 22:50.410 --> 22:54.956 which is where Paola lived, and literally knocked on every door. 22:55.040 --> 22:57.667 One of the doors they knocked on was apartment 1910, 22:58.502 --> 23:01.838 and the person that they spoke to was a guy named Arohn Warford. 23:01.922 --> 23:04.299 When they showed him the picture of Paola, 23:04.383 --> 23:08.220 he said, "Yeah, I saw her. I got on the elevator with her." 23:08.303 --> 23:09.971 [Wagner] He got off on his floor. 23:10.806 --> 23:14.434 And she continued up in the elevator. That's what his statement was. 23:15.227 --> 23:18.188 [Plansky] At the time, he's got a record for robbery and burglary, 23:18.271 --> 23:19.940 but not violent crime. 23:20.023 --> 23:24.486 They found him to be open, and believed he was honest, 23:24.569 --> 23:27.072 very forthcoming, charming. 23:27.155 --> 23:31.827 Did not think that somebody like that could've been responsible for that murder. 23:32.994 --> 23:35.664 [Mooney] She lived in the same building as Arohn, 23:35.747 --> 23:38.375 but there was no evidence connecting them past that. 23:38.458 --> 23:40.836 [low, suspenseful music playing] 23:42.921 --> 23:45.882 [Plansky] The detectives tried to collect forensic evidence. 23:46.383 --> 23:51.930 They did find a variety of hairs on her tights under her jeans. 23:52.514 --> 23:57.561 [Wagner] The unknown hair that was found was sent to the forensics lab. 23:57.644 --> 23:59.229 At the time, 23:59.312 --> 24:04.484 they were able to just type the hair 24:04.568 --> 24:09.030 by saying it was from a male Black. 24:09.614 --> 24:11.324 That's all they were able to say. 24:12.033 --> 24:14.286 [Plansky] The detectives, at least at that time, 24:14.369 --> 24:18.123 didn't have a lot to work with, and there were no leads. 24:18.623 --> 24:20.083 That case was unsolved. 24:30.385 --> 24:32.304 After we went through Paola's case, 24:32.387 --> 24:37.559 we realized that the last person to see Paola Illera alive, 24:38.476 --> 24:40.437 way back in 1991 during a canvass, 24:40.520 --> 24:42.898 was this fellow named Arohn Warford. 24:43.982 --> 24:47.110 Another detective in the task force, he goes, 24:47.194 --> 24:52.407 "Scotty, what apartment does Arohn Kee live in?" I told him. 24:53.158 --> 24:57.245 He goes, "Well, that's the same apartment for Arohn Warford." 24:57.871 --> 25:01.833 We ran Arohn Warford through the NYPD database. 25:01.917 --> 25:05.253 We were able to get a connection to Kee. 25:05.879 --> 25:08.256 [Plansky] Cynthia Kee was Arohn Kee's mother. 25:08.340 --> 25:12.010 Warford turns out to be Arohn Kee's father's surname. 25:13.637 --> 25:14.721 Those revelations… 25:14.804 --> 25:17.182 "Oh my God. Arohn Warford, 25:17.766 --> 25:23.396 who's Arohn Kee, was the last person to see Paola alive." 25:23.480 --> 25:27.234 "Oh my God, Arohn Kee was the last person 25:27.317 --> 25:33.114 to speak to the victim in the 1997 case before she disappeared." 25:33.198 --> 25:34.574 It made your head spin. 25:38.370 --> 25:42.249 We knew this was bad, but after those two murders became part of the pattern, 25:42.332 --> 25:44.668 this may be even worse than we thought. 25:44.751 --> 25:49.130 I can tell you with confidence, as someone who was prosecuting crimes in Manhattan, 25:49.214 --> 25:51.424 that there were plenty of sex crimes. 25:51.508 --> 25:54.052 Not just in East Harlem. All over the city. 25:54.553 --> 25:57.931 But serial killers, fortunately, they are really rare. 25:58.014 --> 26:02.727 And in that moment, it was clear that he was one of them. 26:05.021 --> 26:08.733 Everybody's blood pressure goes up. Everybody starts wanting to do a dance. 26:08.817 --> 26:10.235 "Let's go get this guy." 26:11.152 --> 26:15.699 But we had to exercise restraint because there were loopholes. 26:15.782 --> 26:18.827 We had to close them all before we were gonna put him in handcuffs. 26:20.203 --> 26:23.415 We really, really needed a DNA sample from him 26:23.498 --> 26:24.958 that we knew was his 26:25.041 --> 26:28.587 that we could compare to the crime scene samples. 26:28.670 --> 26:31.506 So the question is, "How do you get it?" 26:36.177 --> 26:40.807 One way to get DNA legally is abandoned property, and we thought, 26:40.890 --> 26:44.728 "What if we put Kee under surveillance, and followed him around, 26:44.811 --> 26:47.856 and waited for him to spit on the sidewalk?" 26:48.440 --> 26:52.610 "Waited for him to get a cup of coffee and toss it in the garbage?" 26:53.737 --> 26:58.491 We could connect some article that had touched his body 26:58.575 --> 27:01.870 to, hopefully, a DNA sample from that article, 27:01.953 --> 27:04.247 and then compare that to the crime scene samples. 27:04.956 --> 27:09.085 We even had a specialized unit from the NYPD 27:09.628 --> 27:13.673 put a pinhole camera outside his door so we could see him coming and going. 27:15.675 --> 27:17.927 We'll never know this for sure, 27:18.428 --> 27:22.223 but our suspicion was that he understood that he was being followed. 27:23.016 --> 27:25.560 For a period of about a week, 27:25.644 --> 27:28.480 Arohn Kee didn't throw anything on the sidewalk. 27:28.563 --> 27:32.859 But on February 8th, he did go and commit another crime 27:32.942 --> 27:34.653 that was completely different 27:34.736 --> 27:37.280 from the crimes that we were investigating him for. 27:38.281 --> 27:41.159 Arohn's also a serial larcenist. 27:41.242 --> 27:44.162 He was into electronics and he was into computers. 27:45.163 --> 27:49.334 He went to a big-box type electronics store. 27:49.417 --> 27:51.127 He bought a new computer. 27:52.045 --> 27:56.049 He put an old computer in the packaging for the new computer, 27:56.549 --> 28:00.053 and then he tried to return it as the new computer. 28:00.595 --> 28:03.598 He would say, "You sold me, this broke, and I want my money back." 28:03.682 --> 28:05.975 And it fooled precisely nobody. 28:07.977 --> 28:10.271 They called the police from Midtown North Precinct. 28:10.355 --> 28:12.816 They came and picked him up, put him under arrest. 28:13.858 --> 28:17.237 After we got over the surprise that this has actually happened, 28:17.320 --> 28:22.117 we realized this was a really good opportunity to get a DNA sample from Kee. 28:23.660 --> 28:28.415 [Mooney] Joel Potter and I drive to Midtown North, where he was. 28:28.498 --> 28:30.959 Unfortunately, he had already been cut loose. 28:31.042 --> 28:34.254 He had been arraigned and sent on his way. They couldn't hold him. 28:35.422 --> 28:39.092 Potter talks to the cop assigned to cell duty that night, and he goes, 28:39.175 --> 28:42.429 "Did you feed these prisoners tonight?" He goes, "Yeah." 28:42.512 --> 28:44.639 "Did they get coffee cups?" He goes, "Yep." 28:44.723 --> 28:46.099 So he went and collected 28:46.182 --> 28:48.852 every single coffee cup that was in the cells 28:48.935 --> 28:49.936 and took them. 28:50.687 --> 28:55.108 [Plansky] We rushed to get that evidence to the medical examiner's office. 28:55.608 --> 28:58.236 They dropped everything and started testing. 28:59.237 --> 29:01.781 Today, it takes a matter of minutes. 29:01.865 --> 29:03.658 Seventy-two hours back then. 29:03.742 --> 29:05.368 But we had some comfort 'cause we thought, 29:05.452 --> 29:08.621 "We have the pinhole camera and we have him under surveillance." 29:12.834 --> 29:15.462 [suspenseful music playing] 29:16.713 --> 29:19.549 On February 12th, the results come back in. 29:20.467 --> 29:22.802 The good news is that there is a match. 29:23.595 --> 29:26.556 One of those cups was the source of the DNA profile 29:26.639 --> 29:28.391 that matched the crime scene samples. 29:28.475 --> 29:32.896 The bad news is that the cell that Arohn Kee was in by himself, 29:32.979 --> 29:36.649 that cup did not match the crime scene samples. 29:36.733 --> 29:38.735 And we were absolutely perplexed. 29:38.818 --> 29:40.528 We could not figure out why. 29:41.654 --> 29:45.366 We found the person in the cell next to Kee. 29:45.450 --> 29:46.618 We interviewed him. 29:46.701 --> 29:49.871 We asked him about the guy in the cell next to him. 29:49.954 --> 29:53.583 And he said, "That guy was a pain in the ass." 29:53.666 --> 29:57.670 "He kept banging on my cell, and finally I said, 29:57.754 --> 30:01.466 'Well, what do you want?' And he said, 'Switch cups with me.'" 30:02.509 --> 30:03.510 And he did. 30:04.010 --> 30:08.097 That gentleman consented to give us a sample of his DNA, an oral swab. 30:08.181 --> 30:12.143 That DNA matched the cup in Arohn Kee's cell. 30:12.227 --> 30:14.604 So, he was 100% telling the truth. 30:16.314 --> 30:18.566 [Mooney] It was elation for everybody, 'cause, like, 30:18.650 --> 30:21.486 "Okay, the last little piece of mystery here 30:21.569 --> 30:24.072 is now not a mystery any longer." 30:24.155 --> 30:28.368 [Plansky] We made a judgement combined with the other pieces of evidence 30:28.451 --> 30:33.039 that we had linking Kee to those crimes. It's time to go and arrest him. 30:34.624 --> 30:35.792 But we were too late. 30:36.292 --> 30:38.545 [cryptic music playing] 30:38.628 --> 30:39.879 He was very clever. 30:39.963 --> 30:43.341 He knew about the pinhole camera, tore it out, destroyed it, 30:43.424 --> 30:45.885 shook surveillance, disappeared. 30:47.387 --> 30:49.138 [Wagner] We're dealing with someone dangerous. 30:49.222 --> 30:52.684 Could possibly have a gun, a weapon. We don't know. 30:52.767 --> 30:57.397 We had worked all through that night into the next day trying to locate him. 30:59.899 --> 31:02.819 We learned that he had a girlfriend from Brooklyn. 31:03.570 --> 31:05.446 Her name was Angelique. 31:06.573 --> 31:08.116 She was 16. 31:09.242 --> 31:12.412 So we end up getting in touch with Angelique's mother. 31:13.288 --> 31:17.500 Arohn Kee picked up her daughter, and she went with him willingly. 31:18.501 --> 31:21.004 The mother had no idea where they were going. 31:22.213 --> 31:28.511 Arohn Kee was 28, 29 at the time, but he looked much younger. 31:28.595 --> 31:32.890 You could see how he could make a parent comfortable. 31:32.974 --> 31:38.146 He's got a great smile. He's polite. He's taking your daughter out for a date. 31:38.229 --> 31:41.024 They would have had really no reason whatsoever 31:41.524 --> 31:44.694 to be suspicious that anything was gonna happen. 31:46.070 --> 31:49.324 But he was a serial murderer and rapist. 31:52.035 --> 31:56.080 That 16-year-old girl with Arohn Kee, she was absolutely his type. 31:56.831 --> 32:01.544 And we were very, very worried that she was gonna be his next victim. 32:01.628 --> 32:03.630 [dark, overwhelming music playing] 32:08.301 --> 32:13.389 [Mooney] The level of intensity to get Arohn Kee was enormous. 32:14.307 --> 32:18.061 And now this was all over the news media. 32:18.645 --> 32:20.521 [reporter] Police say DNA tests connect him 32:20.605 --> 32:24.651 to the murder of 17-year-old Rasheda Washington and two rapes. 32:24.734 --> 32:26.778 He's also suspected of two other murders 32:26.861 --> 32:31.074 and feared to have kidnapped 16-year-old Angelique Stallings of Brooklyn. 32:32.700 --> 32:36.496 [Plansky] We learned that Kee had a lot of girlfriends. 32:38.122 --> 32:43.086 The next day, the mother of one of Kee's girlfriends, 32:43.169 --> 32:45.588 who lived in the same building as Kee, 32:47.548 --> 32:50.802 she saw news reports, and stepped up, 32:50.885 --> 32:53.054 and reached out to help us. 32:54.055 --> 32:58.101 She told us that he viewed her as a motherly sort of figure. 32:58.184 --> 33:00.353 In fact, he… he called her "Mom." 33:00.436 --> 33:03.439 -[phone ringing] -She was in communication with Kee. 33:03.523 --> 33:04.857 He was calling her. 33:07.276 --> 33:08.528 [Mooney] I went to her house. 33:08.611 --> 33:11.781 She gives me the telephone number that came up on her caller ID. 33:11.864 --> 33:16.327 So I immediately get the tech guys to trace that call, 33:16.411 --> 33:19.247 and it went back to a payphone 33:19.330 --> 33:23.960 that was in front of a place called the Miami Sun Hotel in downtown Miami. 33:25.003 --> 33:28.464 The first flight out next morning, we're on a plane going to Miami. 33:29.006 --> 33:30.800 [tense, frantic music playing] 33:30.883 --> 33:35.430 We had the Miami Police Department already alerted to the location. 33:36.222 --> 33:38.474 [Mooney] We go to the Miami Sun Hotel, 33:38.558 --> 33:41.102 and we set up to watch the front of the building 33:41.185 --> 33:42.812 in hope that he comes out. 33:47.233 --> 33:50.778 Not five minutes later, here he comes waltzing down the street. 33:50.862 --> 33:52.780 And, thank God, he had Angelique with him. 33:52.864 --> 33:55.450 So we go charging into the lobby of the hotel, 33:55.533 --> 33:57.368 but he's already gone upstairs. 33:57.452 --> 33:58.745 I start to go up the stairs. 33:58.828 --> 34:02.457 The sergeant from Miami homicide squad looks at me and goes, "Where you going?" 34:02.540 --> 34:05.293 I said, "We're gonna go get him." He goes, "Oh, no." 34:05.376 --> 34:07.378 "We're gonna call the SWAT team in." 34:07.462 --> 34:09.047 [siren wailing] 34:09.130 --> 34:10.715 In a matter of minutes, 34:10.798 --> 34:14.135 there were snipers on the roofs of two adjoining buildings 34:14.218 --> 34:16.679 and a helicopter flying over the top of the place. 34:16.763 --> 34:20.641 And here comes this Miami SWAT team, carrying long rifles. 34:21.434 --> 34:23.561 On the radio, I can hear them going, 34:23.644 --> 34:27.940 "All right, nothing on the second floor. All right, nothing on the third floor." 34:28.900 --> 34:32.195 Minutes later, this lieutenant is coming down the stairs, 34:32.278 --> 34:34.197 and he's got Arohn in handcuffs. 34:34.906 --> 34:35.740 Good evening. 34:35.823 --> 34:40.912 A seedy Miami hotel is the end of the road for a murder and rape suspect on the run. 34:40.995 --> 34:44.457 Police tell us they have linked him to at least one murder and two rapes… 34:44.540 --> 34:47.835 [Mooney] And I look at Arohn Kee. He literally starts to cry. 34:47.919 --> 34:50.379 And he goes, "I'm sorry, man." 34:52.215 --> 34:57.345 I did want to be the one to physically take him into custody, 34:57.428 --> 35:02.475 especially since he had basically gotten over on me 35:03.142 --> 35:07.980 September of '97 in my homicide of the girl burned on the roof. 35:08.064 --> 35:11.317 But not everyone can be the actual arresting officer. 35:11.400 --> 35:13.528 That doesn't mean you're not part of a team. 35:13.611 --> 35:18.074 We were. And I was very relieved. Very relieved. 35:19.992 --> 35:23.579 We were thrilled that he was in custody. 35:24.288 --> 35:26.999 Even happier that his girlfriend was alive. 35:32.213 --> 35:37.134 Within half an hour, John and I were making reservations 35:37.218 --> 35:40.763 to go down and join Rob Mooney in Miami. 35:42.431 --> 35:45.101 Now it's time to try to interrogate Arohn. 35:49.772 --> 35:51.357 [somber, inscrutable music playing] 35:51.440 --> 35:53.359 Another detective and I go into the room. 35:53.442 --> 35:58.781 We start to talk to him, and he's thoroughly unresponsive. 35:58.865 --> 36:02.285 Like, will not make a sound, no matter what I say to him. 36:02.368 --> 36:03.661 He's just silent. 36:05.496 --> 36:09.375 I was pushing him on Rasheda, and on the other case that Scott had, 36:09.458 --> 36:11.711 and I was pushing him on the rape cases, 36:11.794 --> 36:14.839 and he's like, "I don't know what you're talking about. Wasn't me." 36:14.922 --> 36:18.176 And I said, "Look, we got your DNA." 36:18.259 --> 36:20.761 "Here's how we got it. Here's where it was." 36:21.262 --> 36:24.682 "This… This isn't a guess. This isn't an accident." 36:27.018 --> 36:30.271 He asked for a lawyer and he put his head down on the table. 36:30.354 --> 36:33.816 That was the end. Never said another word for the rest of the night. 36:33.900 --> 36:35.902 [intense, focused music playing] 36:38.279 --> 36:40.781 It's late. It's probably 11:00 or midnight. 36:41.616 --> 36:46.495 Angelique Stallings, the girlfriend that he took with him to Miami, 36:46.579 --> 36:48.372 is in the station house with us. 36:48.456 --> 36:51.000 My partner comes to me, and he says, "Listen." 36:51.083 --> 36:54.837 "Angelique wants to go in there and say goodbye to him." 36:54.921 --> 36:58.549 I go, "She's a 16-year-old kid. He's a murdering rapist." 36:58.633 --> 37:01.552 I'm… I'm thinking that this is not a good idea. 37:01.636 --> 37:03.763 I… I'm gonna vote no on this one. 37:03.846 --> 37:06.515 But John and Rich were part of the conversation, 37:06.599 --> 37:09.810 and they were like, "Nah, let her go." 37:11.520 --> 37:14.523 And so Angelique went into the room with him. 37:15.942 --> 37:18.527 As soon as he saw her, she says to him, 37:19.862 --> 37:21.989 "Boo, wh… what did you do?" 37:22.782 --> 37:25.117 And he spews everything. 37:25.701 --> 37:28.663 He confesses to every single crime to her. 37:28.746 --> 37:31.874 [Plansky] He told his girlfriend that he was sorry. 37:33.417 --> 37:36.212 That he had urges. 37:36.295 --> 37:39.507 That he couldn't control these urges, and it would make him do things. 37:40.466 --> 37:43.469 She was understandably confused by that 37:43.552 --> 37:46.389 and deeply, deeply traumatized 37:47.807 --> 37:49.850 by what had happened with Kee. 37:50.726 --> 37:52.770 But this was a really smart kid. 37:53.688 --> 37:57.024 Very composed for a kid her age 37:57.108 --> 38:00.611 who had found herself in this situation 38:00.695 --> 38:04.156 that, thankfully, very few humans ever find themselves in. 38:05.700 --> 38:09.036 [Mooney] Thank God that he spewed every single thing out to her. 38:09.704 --> 38:12.039 Everybody was extremely elated. 38:12.123 --> 38:15.084 [Plansky] The significance of what he said was pretty clear. 38:15.167 --> 38:18.587 I think it's one of the few times in which he told the truth. 38:19.797 --> 38:24.051 We knew Angelique Stallings was gonna be extremely important at trial. 38:28.431 --> 38:33.686 The case kind of began all over again once he was apprehended, 38:34.186 --> 38:37.606 because now there's extradition back to New York. 38:39.066 --> 38:41.444 We have to prepare now for a court case. 38:41.527 --> 38:43.821 And this is a huge case. 38:44.572 --> 38:48.117 [Plansky] As we're moving ahead with the case and preparing for trial, 38:48.617 --> 38:52.371 the girl whose mom had helped us 38:52.455 --> 38:55.082 track and trace Kee on his way down to Miami 38:55.166 --> 39:00.004 told us that he had mentioned raping a girl in 1998 39:00.087 --> 39:02.965 and another young woman back in 1994 39:03.049 --> 39:06.886 in a housing project in the same general area as the others. 39:07.428 --> 39:10.681 They matched DNA that was found in those cases to Arohn. 39:13.059 --> 39:16.729 [Planksy] While Arohn Kee's DNA matched the Rasheda Washington murder 39:16.812 --> 39:18.522 and the four rape cases, 39:19.023 --> 39:24.278 there was no physical evidence that connected him to Paola's case. 39:26.072 --> 39:28.366 We went and got an order 39:28.949 --> 39:33.829 to compel Kee to provide us with hair samples. 39:34.872 --> 39:38.042 [Butcher] Mr. Kee was brought to me at the medical examiner's office. 39:38.125 --> 39:40.795 And I explained to him what I was going to do. 39:42.505 --> 39:45.549 And he looked up at me… 39:46.801 --> 39:49.136 like that, like Princess Diana. 39:50.554 --> 39:54.392 And he said, "That's okay, ma'am. Do what you have to do." 39:55.726 --> 39:59.772 Arohn Kee was relatively handsome. 40:00.898 --> 40:02.441 Arohn Kee was charming. 40:02.525 --> 40:04.735 Arohn Kee was intelligent. 40:06.529 --> 40:10.825 They were his weapons to seduce young girls 40:12.118 --> 40:13.494 and kill young girls. 40:14.954 --> 40:17.123 He was a very dangerous man. 40:17.748 --> 40:19.750 [suspenseful music playing] 40:23.254 --> 40:25.756 [Plansky] We did DNA analysis of Kee's hairs 40:25.840 --> 40:30.594 against the hairs that were recovered from Paola's body. 40:32.680 --> 40:34.765 And they were an exact match. 40:35.933 --> 40:41.772 Now we have an indictment with three murders and four rapes. 40:43.858 --> 40:47.111 [Wagner] Mooney and I were gonna return him to Rikers Island. 40:48.320 --> 40:53.868 I hadn't seen him since I interviewed him in person back in '97. 40:54.452 --> 40:57.455 He recognized me right away. He was very cordial to me. 40:57.538 --> 41:01.208 Had the pleasure of putting my handcuffs on him. 41:02.918 --> 41:05.254 We put him in the car. I rode in the back with him. 41:05.754 --> 41:07.173 Rob Mooney drove. 41:07.256 --> 41:08.674 And I said, "You know, Ace, 41:09.925 --> 41:13.429 20 years from now, I'll be long retired." 41:14.138 --> 41:16.223 "You'll be serving life in Attica." 41:17.266 --> 41:19.643 "And I'm gonna come visit you one day, 41:20.394 --> 41:22.646 and you're gonna tell me what really happened." 41:23.481 --> 41:25.191 And then he started laughing. 41:25.274 --> 41:28.152 He said, "You know, Wagner, they're not gonna convict me." 41:28.944 --> 41:31.655 "We'll see each other." He says, "I'll buy you dinner." 41:35.201 --> 41:37.745 [Plansky] At the point in time that Kee was arrested in Miami, 41:37.828 --> 41:39.038 it had been ten years 41:39.121 --> 41:43.083 that Olga had been wondering what happened to her daughter. 41:45.544 --> 41:49.089 [Illera in Spanish] Every year, I would put up posters that said, 41:49.673 --> 41:53.552 "If anyone has information, please say something." 41:54.178 --> 41:58.098 When I found out, I just thanked God 41:58.182 --> 42:01.519 for allowing me to know who had done this. 42:03.687 --> 42:05.439 Arohn Kee is a monster. 42:07.358 --> 42:09.235 [in English] That was an answered prayer. 42:10.236 --> 42:13.781 If they didn't stop him, there would've been another one, 42:13.864 --> 42:17.493 and no other daughter's life needs to be taken. 42:19.578 --> 42:21.413 [Mooney] In the process of trial preparation, 42:21.497 --> 42:25.292 it's an intensely difficult time for the prosecutors. 42:26.544 --> 42:29.672 In this case, you're talking about millions of documents. 42:29.755 --> 42:33.133 You're talking about 140-plus witnesses. 42:33.217 --> 42:34.927 It's a daunting task. 42:35.010 --> 42:39.682 Rich would go for a whole day and not eat a single thing all day long. 42:39.765 --> 42:41.100 I lost 20 pounds. 42:42.059 --> 42:46.397 How do you not do everything you possibly can 42:46.480 --> 42:50.526 to get those families what they deserve? 42:52.194 --> 42:54.196 [harsh, ominous music playing] 43:09.628 --> 43:12.214 We called close to 140 witnesses. 43:12.298 --> 43:14.842 Those four surviving victims were 43:16.010 --> 43:19.221 the absolute picture of courage. 43:21.473 --> 43:24.310 They were still teenagers. 43:26.103 --> 43:29.315 Certainly, this was not an easy experience for any of them. 43:30.399 --> 43:32.651 They all did incredibly well. 43:33.152 --> 43:36.196 And it was really important for the jury to see 43:36.822 --> 43:41.368 the… the human cost of what this guy had done. 43:41.952 --> 43:44.496 [in Spanish] The first time that I saw Arohn Kee at the trial, 43:44.580 --> 43:49.168 I wanted to jump on top of him. I wanted to end him. 43:50.252 --> 43:54.423 I always sat here in the same spot, and they had him over there. 43:55.591 --> 43:59.720 I was always where I could see him well. 43:59.803 --> 44:02.389 When there was a recess and they would take him away, 44:02.473 --> 44:04.808 he would stop in the doorway, 44:04.892 --> 44:07.561 and he would turn around and look at me. 44:08.103 --> 44:10.397 And it was like he was telling me, 44:10.481 --> 44:14.443 "You are not going to be able to prove that I killed your daughter." 44:16.695 --> 44:20.074 [Planksy in English] Against the advice of his lawyers, Kee decided to testify. 44:21.575 --> 44:23.661 He was on the stand for three days. 44:24.662 --> 44:30.417 The gist of Kee's testimony was this amazing sci-fi tale 44:30.501 --> 44:36.298 of how he had stumbled onto an illegal organ harvesting scheme 44:36.382 --> 44:39.051 run by the Medical Examiner's Office of New York City, 44:40.344 --> 44:43.972 which is why we were all framing him for these murders and rapes, 44:44.056 --> 44:46.016 to get him out of the way. 44:48.519 --> 44:50.813 I can honestly say I've never seen anything like it. 44:52.272 --> 44:54.108 He's looking right at the jury. 44:55.401 --> 44:58.987 And he sits out there and calmly starts to say, 45:00.239 --> 45:02.408 "I didn't kill Paola." 45:03.075 --> 45:06.495 "I didn't kill the victim from '97." 45:06.995 --> 45:08.705 "I didn't kill Rasheda." 45:08.789 --> 45:10.624 "I didn't rape those girls." 45:12.000 --> 45:13.544 You can see all of the tools 45:13.627 --> 45:17.673 that he had used so effectively all of these years to con people. 45:17.756 --> 45:20.050 He was exhibiting them. 45:20.134 --> 45:22.845 He… He creates a great first impression. 45:28.058 --> 45:31.061 The jury was out for three days. 45:31.145 --> 45:35.065 When deliberations take three days, it makes you worry. 45:36.608 --> 45:41.572 And you could hear raised voices, 45:41.655 --> 45:45.534 and you could sort of see on the faces of the court officers 45:46.535 --> 45:49.788 that the deliberations were contentious at times. 45:51.290 --> 45:56.044 And your mind immediately goes to the 25 things that you wish you did. 45:56.795 --> 45:59.715 It's a really… It's a really helpless feeling. 46:00.883 --> 46:03.677 You don't bullshit families of homicide victims. 46:04.595 --> 46:07.306 So we wanted to be straight with them, 46:07.389 --> 46:09.224 like we always had tried to be. 46:09.308 --> 46:12.978 But we also didn't want to cause unnecessary alarm, 46:13.061 --> 46:15.689 even though I think we were pretty alarmed. 46:20.486 --> 46:23.447 A court officer came out, and he made this sign, 46:24.156 --> 46:27.159 which in that world means, "We have a verdict." 46:28.118 --> 46:30.120 And I just remember… [sighs] 46:30.871 --> 46:35.709 Like, "Oh my God, it's here." Like, "This is… It's about to be over." 46:38.295 --> 46:41.548 The court clerk begins going through the charges. 46:42.132 --> 46:46.553 "As to count one for the murder of Rasheda Washington." 46:46.637 --> 46:48.388 "Murder in the first degree." 46:48.889 --> 46:50.474 "How do you find?" 46:50.557 --> 46:53.435 [intense music swelling, trailing off] 46:54.102 --> 46:56.146 And the first one was guilty. 46:56.730 --> 46:58.482 [somber, emotional piano music playing] 46:58.565 --> 47:00.025 [Taylor] I was ecstatic. 47:00.108 --> 47:04.780 I'm so, so happy that he's been taken off of the streets. 47:06.782 --> 47:08.951 Rasheda really had an impact 47:09.034 --> 47:13.205 on those friends and the people who have come in her path. 47:13.789 --> 47:18.126 I can only just imagine what she would have been today. 47:18.210 --> 47:20.212 [emotional music continuing] 47:21.255 --> 47:24.591 I could hear Rasheda's family. 47:24.675 --> 47:26.343 And I could hear this… 47:26.885 --> 47:27.803 [exhales heavily] 47:27.886 --> 47:28.804 "Thank God." 47:29.304 --> 47:30.931 This is finally… 47:31.807 --> 47:33.600 -It was finally the end. -Yeah. 47:33.684 --> 47:36.603 They caught him. He was captured and found guilty. 47:36.687 --> 47:38.480 Like, you got a sense of relief. 47:38.564 --> 47:40.274 -Like, "Thank God." -Yeah. 47:42.693 --> 47:45.028 [tense, inquisitive music playing] 47:45.112 --> 47:47.781 [Plansky] They went through the victims one at a time. 47:47.865 --> 47:50.284 That young girl from 1997, 47:51.368 --> 47:55.455 whose body was desecrated by Arohn Kee, set on fire. 47:56.206 --> 47:57.374 They said guilty. 47:57.457 --> 48:04.172 And then when they got to the charges relating to Paola, I… 48:04.882 --> 48:06.717 my heart was in my throat. 48:06.800 --> 48:10.762 And when they said guilty for that murder, and I heard… 48:10.846 --> 48:17.477 I could hear Olga and her family, and I was so grateful. 48:17.561 --> 48:22.774 Just grateful that, like, she had that moment. 48:28.155 --> 48:30.365 [in Spanish] When they had given the verdict, 48:30.449 --> 48:32.868 that day I had brought a photo of Paola. 48:33.368 --> 48:35.996 So I said to him, 48:36.079 --> 48:39.082 "Arohn Kee, look at me. I am Paola's mother." 48:39.708 --> 48:44.087 I said, "Why did you cause me this pain? Why did you do it?" 48:45.881 --> 48:49.217 It seemed he did not show any… 48:50.761 --> 48:54.473 pain or remorse. You couldn't see any of that in him. 48:58.560 --> 49:02.314 [in English] Arohn Kee got sentenced to 409 years to life in state prison. 49:02.814 --> 49:05.484 Seven girls in nine years. 49:06.818 --> 49:08.236 Three girls dead. 49:09.029 --> 49:10.697 And I think there were more. 49:12.115 --> 49:14.117 [somber, melancholy music playing] 49:18.080 --> 49:21.041 [Wagner] I have this horrible, horrible feeling 49:21.708 --> 49:25.379 that had I not missed something, 49:26.797 --> 49:28.715 these other women wouldn't have been raped, 49:28.799 --> 49:31.635 and Rasheda would not have been killed. 49:34.179 --> 49:35.263 What did I miss? 49:36.056 --> 49:38.558 Could I have paid more attention to something? 49:38.642 --> 49:40.394 I don't know. I… You know, I… 49:40.477 --> 49:43.814 That question still bothers me today, all these years later. 49:47.901 --> 49:52.280 [Mooney] The magnitude of his crimes, and the breadth of his crimes 49:53.281 --> 49:56.159 really kind of punched everybody in the head. 49:58.745 --> 50:01.665 Every single case takes a little piece out of your soul. 50:01.748 --> 50:05.711 And in this particular instance, we're talking about seven cases. 50:05.794 --> 50:07.170 So, that's a bigger piece. 50:19.766 --> 50:23.645 [Plansky] About four months after the sentencing in the Kee case, 50:25.355 --> 50:28.859 I get a call from one of the detectives from the task force, 50:29.609 --> 50:35.240 and he tells me that he is at a crime scene. 50:35.824 --> 50:37.284 It's a triple homicide. 50:38.201 --> 50:40.495 Three people shot to death. 50:40.579 --> 50:43.206 Two people who are likely to die. 50:43.290 --> 50:45.667 So it could even have been a quintuple homicide. 50:45.751 --> 50:48.420 [reporter 1] The massacre that happened right above Carnegie Deli. 50:48.503 --> 50:50.130 [reporter 2] …above the Carnegie Deli. 50:50.213 --> 50:52.090 And he says to me, 50:53.216 --> 50:54.760 "Do you want the case?" 50:58.346 --> 51:03.477 In the Kee case, I had been working very long hours. 51:04.060 --> 51:05.562 Lot of stress. 51:07.230 --> 51:12.319 And I thought about the fact that I had just gotten engaged, 51:13.445 --> 51:18.575 and had this vision in my head for being a husband 51:18.658 --> 51:20.744 and hopefully a dad someday. 51:21.244 --> 51:23.622 Maybe coaching a Little League team. 51:24.122 --> 51:29.169 And then I thought of the way that my life would look if I said yes. 51:29.252 --> 51:30.420 [chaotic overlapping chatter] 51:30.504 --> 51:31.963 [sounds halt abruptly] 51:32.047 --> 51:33.799 And I said no. 51:35.383 --> 51:37.385 [restrained, pensive music playing] 51:39.221 --> 51:41.223 [Mooney] Rich Plansky has a huge heart, 51:42.140 --> 51:47.312 and he cares enormously about what he's doing. 51:47.395 --> 51:52.067 Some of us, we've done this so many different times on much smaller scales. 51:52.818 --> 51:55.028 We developed calluses, so to speak. 51:55.946 --> 51:57.531 Richie never had that opportunity. 51:58.198 --> 52:01.368 He got put into the game way before he was ready to play. 52:02.160 --> 52:04.162 Intellectually, he could handle every bit of it, 52:04.246 --> 52:06.164 but emotionally, it's a drain. 52:06.665 --> 52:09.835 And that, I think, took a big toll. 52:12.254 --> 52:18.134 I knew that I didn't have that fire anymore 52:18.844 --> 52:23.140 to… to do this job at the level that I wanted to do it. 52:25.142 --> 52:26.268 That was May. 52:27.352 --> 52:29.604 By the end of June, I was gone. 52:30.730 --> 52:32.566 [tide rolling gently] 52:36.945 --> 52:39.531 [Mooney] People say to me… I live on the beach in North Carolina, 52:39.614 --> 52:42.409 and they say, "Well, don't you miss New York City?" 52:43.743 --> 52:46.204 And I go out on that beach, or out on this deck, 52:46.288 --> 52:48.290 and I look at the ocean, and I go, 52:48.790 --> 52:52.878 "No, I don't miss any of that. I don't miss any of it at all." 52:52.961 --> 52:54.838 [keening, thoughtful music playing] 52:54.921 --> 52:57.716 I've probably worked on 1,500 murder cases. 52:57.799 --> 53:00.760 I probably witnessed 700 autopsies. 53:00.844 --> 53:02.762 Every one of those things… 53:04.681 --> 53:07.142 you get injured from that somehow. 53:08.685 --> 53:10.020 It doesn't go away. 53:12.022 --> 53:13.773 You're not unscathed, ever. 53:13.857 --> 53:15.317 [emotional piano music playing] 53:23.116 --> 53:25.160 [indistinct chatter] 53:26.161 --> 53:29.956 [Rivera] And you gotta shut it off. It's too much, right? Brian knows it. 53:30.040 --> 53:33.376 We're very sensitive to things, and a lot of stuff happens around us. 53:33.460 --> 53:37.088 So, you know, I think some of us are much more sensitive. 53:37.172 --> 53:39.257 It just affects us a bit more. 53:39.341 --> 53:41.551 It lodges in your heart, and you ignore it. 53:41.635 --> 53:44.596 You cover it up and it stays there like a splinter. 53:44.679 --> 53:48.183 That's what really makes you a professional, 53:48.266 --> 53:52.562 when you can do your job, go home, and not bring it home with you. 53:52.646 --> 53:55.148 But you do bring it home. You might not be aware of it. 53:55.232 --> 53:57.234 [McNeely] Coping mechanism, like Barbara was saying. 53:57.317 --> 53:59.653 The dark humor we had with each other. 53:59.736 --> 54:02.447 And we were able to separate the two. 54:02.530 --> 54:05.617 We had an emotional attachment to the victims, and their families, 54:05.700 --> 54:07.619 'cause we knew there was a void left, 54:07.702 --> 54:10.163 but amongst each other, we were doing stuff like this. 54:10.247 --> 54:13.083 -You have to let it out. -[McNeely] Helps you cope. 54:13.166 --> 54:15.752 -Talk to people. Listen to people. -[man] Right. 54:16.252 --> 54:17.128 Be friendly. 54:18.129 --> 54:19.881 [Butcher] The people I worked with, 54:19.965 --> 54:25.345 all good, caring people with a sense of fairness and justice 54:25.428 --> 54:30.350 who devoted their lives and their hearts to doing this kind of work. 54:30.892 --> 54:32.602 It was an enormous privilege. 54:32.686 --> 54:35.730 No matter how tough or how confident you are, 54:35.814 --> 54:39.276 there's a bit of fear there. "Oh, this is the big league." 54:39.359 --> 54:40.193 [Rivera] Yeah. 54:40.277 --> 54:44.781 Police work, detective work in particular, it's not just a job. 54:44.864 --> 54:49.035 I was so mean to you. And I love him, he's my little brother. 54:49.119 --> 54:53.331 It's an assignation that you choose to accept. 54:53.415 --> 54:55.333 It's almost like you were called to do it. 54:56.292 --> 54:58.044 There's one common thread. 54:58.128 --> 55:01.006 Everybody in that group, they cared. 55:02.048 --> 55:06.011 I like to think I'm part of that club, that fraternity, if you will. 55:06.511 --> 55:07.595 I'm proud to be. 55:07.679 --> 55:09.306 [bright, hopeful music playing] 55:18.273 --> 55:20.275 [dramatic outro music pulsing]