The Detectives (2018) s01e08 Episode Script
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1 [BIRDSONG AND TRAFFIC NOISE.]
TOM BARROW: Divina was working as a nanny.
She was a kind, caring, human being that was looking after children here in Canada in order to try to make a better life for her and her family.
Joel, please call me back.
This is the third message I've left you.
Oftentimes police are criticized for tunnel vision.
Did we miss something here? What were we not seeing? Joel? This case really made me question my instincts.
Joel? I started to second guess many of my decisions.
Joel? [EERIE MUSIC.]
Even the most seasoned investigator can sometimes get tripped up.
Being a cop in a diverse community, you need to be able to connect with people of different cultures, coming from different places in life.
In 2011, Calgary had many foreign workers.
You have to understand where they were coming from.
That's part of the job.
Hey, Tommy.
What's going on? Murder in Pleasant Heights.
Oh.
Anything I can do to help? Quit Robbery and join Homicide.
- [CHUCKLE.]
- Deal? You got it.
At the time of this homicide, I definitely was at the top of my game.
The victim is Joel Zalsos, a 36-year-old Filipino male.
He was found stabbed to death some time this morning in a house he shares with his wife and four other occupants.
He just recently moved to Canada from the Philippines.
He's only been here a month.
Who called it in? The wife.
Divina Carburatan.
Now, as far as we can tell, she was the last person to see him alive this morning before she went to work.
She's giving her statement now.
Were any of the other occupants home? Not that we know of.
But, they're also here providing statements.
They're also giving DNA and fingerprints for comparison.
With that many people in the place, forensics is going to be difficult.
We do know the place was ransacked.
Was anything taken? We won't know until the occupants are allowed back inside, after forensics is done with the place.
Look, to this point, we're still gathering information.
We're learning everything we can about Zalsos, his wife, their friends, their enemies.
We're talking to anyone who knows anything about them.
Digging into the community.
It's pretty tight-knit.
See what you can find out.
We didn't know a whole lot because Zalsos had only been here a short period of time.
Divina had arrived in Canada under the foreign caregiver program.
I had more than 20 years on the job.
I knew what I was doing, but my interaction with the Filipino community was very limited.
[CLICKS RECEIVER.]
[SOBBING.]
I met Joel 10 years ago, back home.
We both came from small villages.
I came here first, and he was supposed to follow.
But it took so long for his papers.
Six years of waiting.
Six years apart.
Six years of loneliness.
It was so hard.
Who would do this? It wasn't making a lot of sense.
Joel Zalsos was only in the country for less than a month.
Not really time to make friends or enemies.
At the beginning of the investigation, we talked to all kinds of people, trying to figure out who Zalsos was and, and how he fit into the community.
Joel had lost his parents at a very young age.
His brother back in the Philippines was his remaining family member.
He just seemed like such a soft-spoken, gentle man.
Who would want to harm this person? When you have no clear suspect, you have to take everyone at face value.
Take them seriously.
Poor Divina.
We all have family we want to bring over.
It's supposed to be a better life, but It was clear to me that their whole community was hit hard by this tragedy.
It was hard to fathom that anybody within the community would want to harm Joel.
But we needed to investigate a murder.
We had to talk to anybody that had anything to do with Joel Zalsos.
[MACHINERY BUZZING.]
Franco Sevandal? I'm Detective Barrow.
This is Detective Cavilla.
It's my understanding that you knew Joel Zalsos? I did.
Not very well, though.
Mostly through Divina.
How long have you known Divina? A few months, maybe.
A friend introduced us.
She's such a wonderful person.
It was so good to see her so happy with Joel.
Everyone loves her.
CAVILLA: What about Joel? Everybody love him? Like I said, I didn't know him very well.
But he made Divina happy.
That's all that matters.
Were you and Divina close? Not really.
We texted a bit.
We saw each other at a few parties and dinners.
That's it.
And since Joel got here, she's been pretty busy.
Well, thanks a lot, Franco.
Thanks a lot.
You know, if you happen to think of anything else, please let us know.
Everybody we interviewed were very hard working, genuine people.
It was hard to piece together a motive for one of them wanting to kill him.
[POLICE RADIO CHATTER.]
I didn't go to the crime scene until after the physical collection of evidence had been completed.
The Zalsos house is located in a fairly transient location.
A lot of student activity, bus movement, people walking.
We've got an open garage door.
It was too easy for somebody walking by to say, "I wonder what's going on in there?" No sign of break-in.
[KNOCK.]
Door doesn't close.
They didn't break in because they didn't have to.
The garage door was open.
The interior door was unlocked.
It's a residential neighborhood in the middle of the day.
Someone walking by could easily assume no one's home.
Nothing of much interest here, so they decided "let's go inside".
It made sense to me looking at it in the totality of what we were seeing, that it was a crime of opportunity.
By now I've seen pictures; I kind of know what our crime scenes people have seen.
I know that Joel was stabbed repeatedly, but when you stand in the middle of it, that's when it really starts to hit home.
They enter the house hoping to steal something.
They toss the place, looking for some quick cash, jewelry, electronics.
They don't find anything.
They hear something.
They're spooked.
They're surprised by Zalsos.
It happens fast.
There were two distinct forms of blood.
When you're looking at smear from a bloody scene, it's usually from a different source than the droplets.
Wait a minute.
This doesn't match the blood splatter.
In a stabbing, especially a multiple stabbing um, the knife that's used becomes slippery.
And you'll see, on the perpetrator, small cuts from it cutting his own hand.
Now, look at the pattern.
If this were the victim's blood Too far from the body to be spatter.
If the killer had the victim's blood on them, it would probably be smeared from a glove or a shoe.
But these are droplets.
Yeah.
Could be they cut themselves during the attack.
If this blood doesn't match Joel's, we may have our murderer.
The results of the DNA analysis of the occupants of the Zalsos house came back from the crime lab.
They were all negative.
At that point, I didn't have a suspect, but I knew we were looking for somebody outside of the house.
How's it going? Do me a favour.
Take a look at this for me.
MALICDEM: Is that from the murder in Pleasant Heights? Yeah.
Blood splatter pattern doesn't match.
Forensics noticed it, too.
We think it's the killer's blood.
I think this is a robbery gone wrong.
Joe Malicdem was in the robbery unit; Joe had a lifetime of experience dealing with complex complex investigations.
The place was ransacked.
And look at the location of the house.
The highway's here, right? And you've got shopping malls here and here.
The college is here.
This is all student housing.
It's a high traffic area.
You've got lots of people walking by.
A lot of people who might notice a house with a broken garage door.
So I'm thinking someone was walking by and noticed an easy target.
Crime of opportunity gone wrong.
Terrible.
Anything missing from the house? The wife says the laptop's gone.
We're still trying to figure if anything else was taken.
Well, nothing's come up from our end.
I'll let you know if I hear anything.
Hey, go home.
- What do ya got? - You gotta see this.
A homeless guy handed it over last night and then just disappeared.
- Seriously? - Yeah.
And check this out.
- That's blood.
- The lab's running it now.
This is Joel's laptop.
Who got this? An officer guarding the scene said a guy named Shane Thompson handed it in and just walked away.
[PHONE RINGS.]
Just one sec.
Detective Cavilla.
Got it.
Thanks.
They just found Thompson's fingerprints at the scene on the garage door.
Do we know where to find this guy? Yeah.
Excuse me, Miss? Shane Thompson was a rounder; he lived in the area.
He was known to police.
He may have taken the opportunity to enter a home with an open garage door.
You know where I can find Shane Thompson? My goal with Thompson was to show him that I was on his side, to have him open up to me.
It's easier to get information with sugar than it is with gravel.
Shane Thompson? Uh huh.
Hi, I'm Tom, detective with Calgary Police.
Oh yeah.
- Nice to meet you.
I wanted to have a little talk with you about that laptop you found.
Oh, no, you're not gonna take me in, are you? I was just - just, you know, just trying to help.
No, no, we don't need to go down to the station.
I just want to have a little talk.
Yeah, well, you know, I got a lot of yard work to do up there, you know.
Up the street.
Well, it'll only take a minute.
It'll take a little bit longer if we have to go to the station, though.
You feel like a coffee? Yeah.
Yeah.
The fact that Thompson did odd jobs around the neighbourhood really raised a flag with me.
He had also provided the laptop computer to us; his fingerprints were outside of the house.
Was it a coincidence? Uh, in a homicide investigation, there is no coincidence.
You have to take everything um, and dissect it right down to the lowest level and try to determine what is going on.
Hey, where'd you find the laptop, Shane? Uh you know, it was in a dumpster on my picking route.
And I saw that it had blood on it, so, you know, I gave it to a cop.
Well, that's really responsible of you.
A computer like that's gotta be worth a couple of bucks, right? Uh, I wouldn't know.
You sure? If we ask a few pawnshops in the neighbourhood, is your name gonna pop up? I don't know.
You know, I find things all the time.
Listen, me and my partner, we're not Robbery.
We don't care about stuff like that.
I told you, OK, I found it.
That's it.
Sure.
I'm just saying, maybe you didn't find it in an alley.
Maybe you found it somewhere else.
That would explain why your prints were at the crime scene.
What? No! I'm just trying to figure out what happened.
Explaining how your prints got there would make things a lot easier for me.
I don't know.
You know, I-I-I do a lot of yard work up there.
I touch things.
That's it.
I just Look, you heard of Crime Stoppers, right? And you know that they pay out a reward for information that helps us crack cases like these.
OK.
Now, that laptop, that's a good start.
But anything else that you can tell us It's easier money than bottles and yard work.
What about a knife? A knife? Yeah, I saw a knife down near where I saw the laptop.
Is that worth anything? Right out of the blue, he says, you probably want to know about the knife.
And that absolutely floored us.
Like, right out of left field, he's gonna take us to a knife.
Sure.
Yeah, that's worth something, thanks Shane.
OK.
OK then.
Shane may not willingly hand over his DNA; he may be worried about other offences where the collection of DNA was taken.
So we collected the DNA by cast-off.
Without getting a warrant, we've got something to compare to the potential DNA at the scene.
[CART RATTLING.]
You sure we're going the right way? No, no, this, this this isn't right.
Lauren would know.
Who's Lauren? Oh.
It was a big knife in between uh oh no, it's, it's down the alley, all right, between the three garbage cans on a piece of wood.
Yeah.
A piece of wood.
He matched the profile of somebody that would take advantage of a crime of opportunity.
What is he not telling us? Was he trying to throw us off the trail by cooperating? It's under the bag there.
Hold on there, Shane.
We'll take it from here.
Whoa, I'm just trying to help out, man.
I appreciate that.
But the best way for you to help us is to let us process the evidence.
We don't want any more mistakes, right? Like your fingerprints at the garage? Yeah.
Why don't you come stand over here with me? Come on.
It's OK.
It's OK.
Right here.
We got our break.
Thompson had a few outstanding warrants.
If we're looking at a burglary gone wrong, then he's definitely a suspect.
But he's also cooperating by turning a valuable piece of property that he probably could have pawned or sold, over to the police.
If we let him walk, we wouldn't be able to find him again.
I made the decision to bring him in.
What do you think? Don't know.
He could just be trying to help.
Yeah, could be.
Or he could be trying to get caught.
We've seen that before.
Nothing in his record shows any violence.
I mean, I'd buy him for a burglary, but a killing like this, though? Maybe he wasn't alone.
Maybe he had someone with him; he stayed in the garage to keep an eye out.
Things go bad inside.
It's got nothing to do with Thompson, but he's wrapped up in it.
He feels guilty; he wants to get it off his chest.
He mentioned someone named Lauren.
Maybe she was with him when he found the laptop and the knife.
Let's go find her.
Lauren Hilcox was a long-time girlfriend.
When you're living on the street, it kind of comes and goes.
Uh, but they had been together for quite some time.
Shane, he was very protective of her.
Are you Lauren? From the elements, from the street, and in this case, from the police.
Hi, do you remember me? Shane sent me.
What for? Well, he brought in a laptop.
Did you hear about that? Yeah.
He said that maybe you were with him.
No, no, I was alone.
You were alone? Shane didn't find the laptop.
I did.
We feel that Thompson's being truthful and then all of a sudden, Lauren drops this bombshell on us that it was actually her that found the laptop.
Look, would you be willing to come down to the station and submit DNA? I guess.
Will Shane be there? I think so, yeah.
Yeah, we'll make sure you two connect.
What is he not telling us? Yes, he's telling us some, but there's gotta be something that he's not telling us.
He had locations of things that regular people should not have known.
Why'd you leave Lauren out when you talked about the laptop? Well, she doesn't do good with stress.
Yeah, you know, she does seem kind of like the shy type.
So you were trying to protect her? Hey, I get that, I understand that, you know, I mean that's what guys like you and I do, right? Well, she doesn't need to be protected, you know.
She didn't do nothin'.
Are you sure about that? Are you sure she didn't go in the house with you? No.
Nothing happened, OK.
I told you.
That's it.
Look, I'm trying to figure this out.
You give us the laptop, then the knife.
I know you're trying to do the right thing; I can see that.
But we got a dead body here.
A guy who came over just to be with his wife.
We just wanna know what happened.
Nothing happened, man, OK? I told ya.
That's it.
Look, maybe you're walking down the street that morning.
You see the garage door open, so you thought, you know, you'd go inside, take a look around, see if they needed any help with the yard work.
Maybe that was Lauren's idea.
And then maybe you saw the laptop.
And maybe you got surprised by Joel Zalsos.
Oh, no, no, I never went into the house.
OK.
Go check.
But what about Lauren? Did she go inside? No, Lauren had nothing to do with it, OK? I had nothing to do with it, man.
I don't know what else to tell you.
[SHARP KNOCK AT THE DOOR.]
I'll be right back, Shane.
Maybe he just wanted to protect his girl.
But if they weren't involved, how did they end up smack dab in the middle of this investigation with such pertinent physical evidence and knowledge of its exact location? Autopsy's in.
[DOOR CLOSES.]
BUCHOLTZ: Twenty-three wounds in total.
Front and rear chest, upper back, right arm, left hand, and then there are the injuries to the face.
There were five slashes.
Left ear, cheek, jaw.
What was the cause of death? Well, there were two wounds to the heart, and normally that would have been fatal.
CAVILLA: But But the rest of the injuries were so severe, he bled out first.
This was quite an attack, gentlemen.
The crime itself was so violent, it didn't necessarily make sense as a uh, crime of opportunity.
It was perhaps something more uh, planned and deliberate and targeted at Joel Zalsos in that bedroom at that time.
It was personal.
I'd say it's certainly consistent with a crime of passion.
This doesn't feel like a robbery gone wrong to me.
Even if Thompson was surprised, fear doesn't make someone do something like this.
CAVILLA: You're right.
And I can't picture Lauren hurting someone like this.
[QUICK DOOR KNOCK.]
The DNA analysis of Shane and Lauren came back from the crime lab.
They were both negative.
We had to let them go.
And that left us with nothing.
The uh, autopsy report came back and uh, what it revealed was a uh, a very brutal death.
Twenty stab wounds to Joel Zalsos.
There's some hatred here.
As the months passed by, I began to think to myself, you know what, I may have missed something at the beginning.
Joel Zalsos had arrived from the Philippines to be with his wife.
Within a month, he's murdered.
I'm running out of ideas.
I mean, Zalsos, he was barely here a month.
He didn't know anyone outside of the community and even then, he only really knew Divina well.
I keep thinking I've missed something.
- What do you mean? - It wasn't a robbery gone wrong.
There was a lot of anger behind it.
What do you think? Could he have gotten mixed up in something criminal? That, I doubt it.
These people are foreign workers.
People like Divina, Joel, they're just here to work hard, help their families back home.
They get into any kind of trouble, anything at all, they can get deported.
Having been Canadian my entire life, I can only imagine what that feels like.
Joe Malicdem is of Filipino origin; he had insight into the Filipino community that I just didn't.
Would you mind taking a look at the files? See if anything went over my head? I'd be happy to.
[CRICKETS CHIRP.]
Oftentimes the police are criticized for tunnel vision.
We had to step back and reassess.
At this point, it's not such a crime of opportunity.
What other reasonable explanation is there? Who would want to harm Joel Zalsos? What were we missing? Hey.
Thanks.
You working another angle? This attack was angry.
This was vicious.
But we've been thinking it's personal, but maybe it's not just about Joel.
Maybe it's about the community.
Some of these people, they work a couple of jobs each.
Some of them more than that.
Jobs that some of our less than enlightened citizens might feel like they don't deserve.
What are you thinking? You remember this? Two skinheads beat a man to death.
Stomped his head into the pavement.
Yeah.
That's easy walking distance from Joel and Divina's house.
So a house full of foreign workers living near skinhead territory.
The skinheads spot the Filipinos and they want to send a clear message that they're not welcome here.
A hate crime.
Right under our noses.
Maybe somebody didn't like a house full of foreign workers in their neighbourhood.
Zalsos would have been an ideal target for somebody trying to uh, forward that agenda.
MALICDEM: Tommy! Tommy, I think I got something.
It's about Divina.
I had her texts translated.
They were in a dialect I don't know, so I had to reach out to some of my friends in the community.
I've been trying to read between the lines and I'm pretty sure she's been cheating on Joel with some guy named Franco.
I remember Franco from the construction site.
Yeah.
That guy? Yeah, look.
Well, she's saying he's ugly.
Well, the word's pangit.
It means ugly, but it's a term of endearment.
A pet name.
Not uncommon.
I'm gonna go talk to Franco.
We didn't swab his DNA.
And Divina, too.
She's got a lot of explaining to do.
I had no idea how I could have missed this.
I should have picked up on the connection between Franco and Divina.
Franco had lied to me.
I should have taken his DNA.
I made a mistake.
Hey! You remember me, Franco? Yes, of course.
Is everything all right? Well, I guess that depends on whether or not you're going to tell me the truth.
Can we talk in private? Yes.
What's the nature of your relationship with Divina? We were friends.
You're going to have to do better than that, Franco.
We want the truth about you and Divina, that's all.
We have her text messages, Franco.
We know that you two were more than just friends.
She's down at the station right now telling us all about it.
Do you still want to pretend that you two weren't close? OK.
OK.
Before Joel got here, me and Divina we were together.
Did it stop when Joel came over? No.
Why didn't you tell me that the last time? I was scared of of being sent back home.
Of losing everything that I worked for.
OK, OK.
OK, look, it doesn't matter who you're sleeping with.
We don't deport people for that.
Now, is there anything else that you want to tell us about Joel? No.
I-I swear to you.
That's not good enough, Franco.
We're clearing everyone who came into contact with the crime scene.
Would you be willing to submit a DNA sample? Convince me you've got nothing else to hide? Franco was terrified of being deported.
You just take it and you swab your cheek.
He had worked very hard to be in this county.
And I don't think he really wanted to go home.
Thank you, Franco.
He seemed to be a young man who was in love with a woman that he couldn't have.
There's a real explanation for why he's not being forthright.
He's, he's protecting her honor.
I didn't say anything because I didn't want to be deported.
Please.
[SOB.]
My family needs me here.
Please let me stay.
[SNIFF.]
I know having an affair was wrong.
I don't know who killed Joel.
I'm sorry, I don't.
I loved him.
[SOBBING.]
[DOOR OPENS.]
[DOOR CLOSES.]
What do you think? I don't think she's got anything to do with this.
Did we bring Franco in? I just got the swab.
[PHONE RINGS.]
Detective Barrow.
I could hear this small voice, this tiny voice.
Uh, I'm sorry, say that again? Detective Barrow.
Sorry, who is this? It's telling me, I want to confess.
I want to turn myself in.
I will never forget that call.
It's one of those days in my 25-year career that I'll always remember.
A murderer wanting to confess his crime.
I was excited.
I was starting to piece together what had happened.
I hadn't doubted my instincts during this investigation, but with that phone call, I started to second guess many of my decisions.
This time I was going to make sure the facts don't slip through unaddressed.
[DOOR CLOSES.]
Franco? What's going on? I I want to talk in the car.
OK.
Whatever you want, Franco.
Whatever you want.
I had to stop him, read him his rights, ensure that he understood them, that he didn't have to speak to me.
And yet he still chose to.
[CAR DOOR CLOSES.]
- [DOOR CLOSES.]
- It's my fault.
It's all my fault.
Please you have to listen to me.
Hey, I promise I'll listen to whatever you have to say, but you have to tell me what happened.
Franco was terrified.
He wanted to say something to me.
He says, yeah, I killed Joel Zalsos.
I did it.
I killed Joel.
I stabbed him.
Look, if what you're telling me is true, then we need to get down to the station.
No-no-no please.
Let me explain.
Franco, we'll sort this whole thing out.
OK? I needed to get him to the station.
I needed to get the whole story.
We had a lot of forensic evidence that we hadn't quite linked to Franco at that point.
We needed him to link himself.
[FOOTSTEPS.]
So, he confessed.
Mm hm.
I don't get it, Cavilla.
How could I have this guy so wrong? I still barely believe it.
I pride myself on being able to read people and I missed it.
I just wasn't able to read that level of violence into him.
I just liked the guy.
He didn't seem like a killer to me.
Franco misled me once; I wasn't going to let him do it again.
This time I was going to show a judge and jury exactly what Franco did.
We needed to find out everything from start to finish, but I couldn't force it out of him; I had to take it easy.
I'm really glad you called me, Franco.
Yeah.
You know that thing that you told me about Joel in the car, you'll feel a lot better once you get it off your chest.
I'm listening.
I'm the reason why Joel is dead.
You killed him.
Yes.
Self-defence.
There's no way that it was self-defense.
The level of violence involved in this, it was very clear that it was planned and deliberate.
You were in love with her, weren't you? Well, that must have been hard seeing her with Joel like that.
It must have been difficult for you.
Yes.
How long had you been having the affair? A few months.
Did Joel know? Yes.
He threatened me.
Said if I didn't stop seeing her, he would report my affair to the government and get me deported.
That must have been terrifying.
You were going to lose the woman that you love, the life you worked so hard for.
You know, I can see why you'd be mad at Joel.
I can see why you'd want to make him stop.
No, it wasn't like that.
I wanted to get him to promise not to tell anyone.
And when he saw me, I told him I just wanted to talk to him.
But he hit me.
And then he reached for something under his pillow.
I thought it was a weapon.
So I grabbed my knife.
Where'd you get that, the knife? I brought it from home.
You have to understand, the last time we spoke, he threatened me.
I just wanted to protect myself.
I understand.
I understand.
What happened next? I don't know.
I blacked out.
OK, come on, he he was turned around like this, reached back behind the pillow to grab something.
Just like, like this.
OK, you know what? Why don't you stand up for me and just show me.
Where were you? So, so I'll be, I'll be Joel.
I'm standing here, right? I reach back behind the pillow here.
Is that where you were? Yeah, I can see how it'd be really hard for you to see what he was reaching for.
Yes.
Exactly.
OK.
So then he comes back; he turns around like this.
He's already hit you once; you can't see what he's holding in his hand.
A-and then what did you do, what, what happened? I I hit Joel here.
And then he fell down right there.
And then you stabbed him over and over, right? I don't know.
You stab me.
Stab me.
Stab me.
Show me what you did.
Go ahead.
Stab me, for real, stab me.
Stab me.
Show me, show me what you did.
Stab me.
No, for real, stab me! Come on! There I am in this interview room with Franco Sevandal on, on top of me, showing me how he - how he's stabbing Joel.
And it was a it was a very surreal moment when you, when you you realize that he's re-enacting a murder.
Why'd you stop? The knife slipped.
I cut myself here.
But that wasn't the end of it, right? I mean, you didn't just walk away.
No, I stabbed him again.
Stab me, show me what you did! Stab me! Right, he was going to ruin your life here.
- Yes.
- You were angry he found out - about you and Divina, right? - Yes.
Really stab me! Come on, he's gonna send you back home! - Yes! - You'd be ashamed; you'd be humiliated! [SHOUTS.]
[SOB.]
He ruined everything.
[SOBBING.]
What'd he have in his hand, Franco? What did he grab from behind the pillow? A phone.
A phone! Self-defense? I'm sorry.
Franco went there to confront Joel.
If you tell the authorities on me, I'm gonna kill you.
[DOOR CLOSES.]
And that's what happened.
And he stabbed and he stabbed repeatedly, until Zalsos fell to the ground and died.
When Joel died, his family raised $15,000 to bring his body back home.
He could be with the family he sacrificed so much to support.
Franco was in love with a married woman the woman that he couldn't have, and her husband was threatening to report him to the authorities and have him removed from the country.
Franco lashed out at him and it resulted in the death of Joel Zalsos.
And he's gonna have to live with that for the rest of his life.
TOM BARROW: Divina was working as a nanny.
She was a kind, caring, human being that was looking after children here in Canada in order to try to make a better life for her and her family.
Joel, please call me back.
This is the third message I've left you.
Oftentimes police are criticized for tunnel vision.
Did we miss something here? What were we not seeing? Joel? This case really made me question my instincts.
Joel? I started to second guess many of my decisions.
Joel? [EERIE MUSIC.]
Even the most seasoned investigator can sometimes get tripped up.
Being a cop in a diverse community, you need to be able to connect with people of different cultures, coming from different places in life.
In 2011, Calgary had many foreign workers.
You have to understand where they were coming from.
That's part of the job.
Hey, Tommy.
What's going on? Murder in Pleasant Heights.
Oh.
Anything I can do to help? Quit Robbery and join Homicide.
- [CHUCKLE.]
- Deal? You got it.
At the time of this homicide, I definitely was at the top of my game.
The victim is Joel Zalsos, a 36-year-old Filipino male.
He was found stabbed to death some time this morning in a house he shares with his wife and four other occupants.
He just recently moved to Canada from the Philippines.
He's only been here a month.
Who called it in? The wife.
Divina Carburatan.
Now, as far as we can tell, she was the last person to see him alive this morning before she went to work.
She's giving her statement now.
Were any of the other occupants home? Not that we know of.
But, they're also here providing statements.
They're also giving DNA and fingerprints for comparison.
With that many people in the place, forensics is going to be difficult.
We do know the place was ransacked.
Was anything taken? We won't know until the occupants are allowed back inside, after forensics is done with the place.
Look, to this point, we're still gathering information.
We're learning everything we can about Zalsos, his wife, their friends, their enemies.
We're talking to anyone who knows anything about them.
Digging into the community.
It's pretty tight-knit.
See what you can find out.
We didn't know a whole lot because Zalsos had only been here a short period of time.
Divina had arrived in Canada under the foreign caregiver program.
I had more than 20 years on the job.
I knew what I was doing, but my interaction with the Filipino community was very limited.
[CLICKS RECEIVER.]
[SOBBING.]
I met Joel 10 years ago, back home.
We both came from small villages.
I came here first, and he was supposed to follow.
But it took so long for his papers.
Six years of waiting.
Six years apart.
Six years of loneliness.
It was so hard.
Who would do this? It wasn't making a lot of sense.
Joel Zalsos was only in the country for less than a month.
Not really time to make friends or enemies.
At the beginning of the investigation, we talked to all kinds of people, trying to figure out who Zalsos was and, and how he fit into the community.
Joel had lost his parents at a very young age.
His brother back in the Philippines was his remaining family member.
He just seemed like such a soft-spoken, gentle man.
Who would want to harm this person? When you have no clear suspect, you have to take everyone at face value.
Take them seriously.
Poor Divina.
We all have family we want to bring over.
It's supposed to be a better life, but It was clear to me that their whole community was hit hard by this tragedy.
It was hard to fathom that anybody within the community would want to harm Joel.
But we needed to investigate a murder.
We had to talk to anybody that had anything to do with Joel Zalsos.
[MACHINERY BUZZING.]
Franco Sevandal? I'm Detective Barrow.
This is Detective Cavilla.
It's my understanding that you knew Joel Zalsos? I did.
Not very well, though.
Mostly through Divina.
How long have you known Divina? A few months, maybe.
A friend introduced us.
She's such a wonderful person.
It was so good to see her so happy with Joel.
Everyone loves her.
CAVILLA: What about Joel? Everybody love him? Like I said, I didn't know him very well.
But he made Divina happy.
That's all that matters.
Were you and Divina close? Not really.
We texted a bit.
We saw each other at a few parties and dinners.
That's it.
And since Joel got here, she's been pretty busy.
Well, thanks a lot, Franco.
Thanks a lot.
You know, if you happen to think of anything else, please let us know.
Everybody we interviewed were very hard working, genuine people.
It was hard to piece together a motive for one of them wanting to kill him.
[POLICE RADIO CHATTER.]
I didn't go to the crime scene until after the physical collection of evidence had been completed.
The Zalsos house is located in a fairly transient location.
A lot of student activity, bus movement, people walking.
We've got an open garage door.
It was too easy for somebody walking by to say, "I wonder what's going on in there?" No sign of break-in.
[KNOCK.]
Door doesn't close.
They didn't break in because they didn't have to.
The garage door was open.
The interior door was unlocked.
It's a residential neighborhood in the middle of the day.
Someone walking by could easily assume no one's home.
Nothing of much interest here, so they decided "let's go inside".
It made sense to me looking at it in the totality of what we were seeing, that it was a crime of opportunity.
By now I've seen pictures; I kind of know what our crime scenes people have seen.
I know that Joel was stabbed repeatedly, but when you stand in the middle of it, that's when it really starts to hit home.
They enter the house hoping to steal something.
They toss the place, looking for some quick cash, jewelry, electronics.
They don't find anything.
They hear something.
They're spooked.
They're surprised by Zalsos.
It happens fast.
There were two distinct forms of blood.
When you're looking at smear from a bloody scene, it's usually from a different source than the droplets.
Wait a minute.
This doesn't match the blood splatter.
In a stabbing, especially a multiple stabbing um, the knife that's used becomes slippery.
And you'll see, on the perpetrator, small cuts from it cutting his own hand.
Now, look at the pattern.
If this were the victim's blood Too far from the body to be spatter.
If the killer had the victim's blood on them, it would probably be smeared from a glove or a shoe.
But these are droplets.
Yeah.
Could be they cut themselves during the attack.
If this blood doesn't match Joel's, we may have our murderer.
The results of the DNA analysis of the occupants of the Zalsos house came back from the crime lab.
They were all negative.
At that point, I didn't have a suspect, but I knew we were looking for somebody outside of the house.
How's it going? Do me a favour.
Take a look at this for me.
MALICDEM: Is that from the murder in Pleasant Heights? Yeah.
Blood splatter pattern doesn't match.
Forensics noticed it, too.
We think it's the killer's blood.
I think this is a robbery gone wrong.
Joe Malicdem was in the robbery unit; Joe had a lifetime of experience dealing with complex complex investigations.
The place was ransacked.
And look at the location of the house.
The highway's here, right? And you've got shopping malls here and here.
The college is here.
This is all student housing.
It's a high traffic area.
You've got lots of people walking by.
A lot of people who might notice a house with a broken garage door.
So I'm thinking someone was walking by and noticed an easy target.
Crime of opportunity gone wrong.
Terrible.
Anything missing from the house? The wife says the laptop's gone.
We're still trying to figure if anything else was taken.
Well, nothing's come up from our end.
I'll let you know if I hear anything.
Hey, go home.
- What do ya got? - You gotta see this.
A homeless guy handed it over last night and then just disappeared.
- Seriously? - Yeah.
And check this out.
- That's blood.
- The lab's running it now.
This is Joel's laptop.
Who got this? An officer guarding the scene said a guy named Shane Thompson handed it in and just walked away.
[PHONE RINGS.]
Just one sec.
Detective Cavilla.
Got it.
Thanks.
They just found Thompson's fingerprints at the scene on the garage door.
Do we know where to find this guy? Yeah.
Excuse me, Miss? Shane Thompson was a rounder; he lived in the area.
He was known to police.
He may have taken the opportunity to enter a home with an open garage door.
You know where I can find Shane Thompson? My goal with Thompson was to show him that I was on his side, to have him open up to me.
It's easier to get information with sugar than it is with gravel.
Shane Thompson? Uh huh.
Hi, I'm Tom, detective with Calgary Police.
Oh yeah.
- Nice to meet you.
I wanted to have a little talk with you about that laptop you found.
Oh, no, you're not gonna take me in, are you? I was just - just, you know, just trying to help.
No, no, we don't need to go down to the station.
I just want to have a little talk.
Yeah, well, you know, I got a lot of yard work to do up there, you know.
Up the street.
Well, it'll only take a minute.
It'll take a little bit longer if we have to go to the station, though.
You feel like a coffee? Yeah.
Yeah.
The fact that Thompson did odd jobs around the neighbourhood really raised a flag with me.
He had also provided the laptop computer to us; his fingerprints were outside of the house.
Was it a coincidence? Uh, in a homicide investigation, there is no coincidence.
You have to take everything um, and dissect it right down to the lowest level and try to determine what is going on.
Hey, where'd you find the laptop, Shane? Uh you know, it was in a dumpster on my picking route.
And I saw that it had blood on it, so, you know, I gave it to a cop.
Well, that's really responsible of you.
A computer like that's gotta be worth a couple of bucks, right? Uh, I wouldn't know.
You sure? If we ask a few pawnshops in the neighbourhood, is your name gonna pop up? I don't know.
You know, I find things all the time.
Listen, me and my partner, we're not Robbery.
We don't care about stuff like that.
I told you, OK, I found it.
That's it.
Sure.
I'm just saying, maybe you didn't find it in an alley.
Maybe you found it somewhere else.
That would explain why your prints were at the crime scene.
What? No! I'm just trying to figure out what happened.
Explaining how your prints got there would make things a lot easier for me.
I don't know.
You know, I-I-I do a lot of yard work up there.
I touch things.
That's it.
I just Look, you heard of Crime Stoppers, right? And you know that they pay out a reward for information that helps us crack cases like these.
OK.
Now, that laptop, that's a good start.
But anything else that you can tell us It's easier money than bottles and yard work.
What about a knife? A knife? Yeah, I saw a knife down near where I saw the laptop.
Is that worth anything? Right out of the blue, he says, you probably want to know about the knife.
And that absolutely floored us.
Like, right out of left field, he's gonna take us to a knife.
Sure.
Yeah, that's worth something, thanks Shane.
OK.
OK then.
Shane may not willingly hand over his DNA; he may be worried about other offences where the collection of DNA was taken.
So we collected the DNA by cast-off.
Without getting a warrant, we've got something to compare to the potential DNA at the scene.
[CART RATTLING.]
You sure we're going the right way? No, no, this, this this isn't right.
Lauren would know.
Who's Lauren? Oh.
It was a big knife in between uh oh no, it's, it's down the alley, all right, between the three garbage cans on a piece of wood.
Yeah.
A piece of wood.
He matched the profile of somebody that would take advantage of a crime of opportunity.
What is he not telling us? Was he trying to throw us off the trail by cooperating? It's under the bag there.
Hold on there, Shane.
We'll take it from here.
Whoa, I'm just trying to help out, man.
I appreciate that.
But the best way for you to help us is to let us process the evidence.
We don't want any more mistakes, right? Like your fingerprints at the garage? Yeah.
Why don't you come stand over here with me? Come on.
It's OK.
It's OK.
Right here.
We got our break.
Thompson had a few outstanding warrants.
If we're looking at a burglary gone wrong, then he's definitely a suspect.
But he's also cooperating by turning a valuable piece of property that he probably could have pawned or sold, over to the police.
If we let him walk, we wouldn't be able to find him again.
I made the decision to bring him in.
What do you think? Don't know.
He could just be trying to help.
Yeah, could be.
Or he could be trying to get caught.
We've seen that before.
Nothing in his record shows any violence.
I mean, I'd buy him for a burglary, but a killing like this, though? Maybe he wasn't alone.
Maybe he had someone with him; he stayed in the garage to keep an eye out.
Things go bad inside.
It's got nothing to do with Thompson, but he's wrapped up in it.
He feels guilty; he wants to get it off his chest.
He mentioned someone named Lauren.
Maybe she was with him when he found the laptop and the knife.
Let's go find her.
Lauren Hilcox was a long-time girlfriend.
When you're living on the street, it kind of comes and goes.
Uh, but they had been together for quite some time.
Shane, he was very protective of her.
Are you Lauren? From the elements, from the street, and in this case, from the police.
Hi, do you remember me? Shane sent me.
What for? Well, he brought in a laptop.
Did you hear about that? Yeah.
He said that maybe you were with him.
No, no, I was alone.
You were alone? Shane didn't find the laptop.
I did.
We feel that Thompson's being truthful and then all of a sudden, Lauren drops this bombshell on us that it was actually her that found the laptop.
Look, would you be willing to come down to the station and submit DNA? I guess.
Will Shane be there? I think so, yeah.
Yeah, we'll make sure you two connect.
What is he not telling us? Yes, he's telling us some, but there's gotta be something that he's not telling us.
He had locations of things that regular people should not have known.
Why'd you leave Lauren out when you talked about the laptop? Well, she doesn't do good with stress.
Yeah, you know, she does seem kind of like the shy type.
So you were trying to protect her? Hey, I get that, I understand that, you know, I mean that's what guys like you and I do, right? Well, she doesn't need to be protected, you know.
She didn't do nothin'.
Are you sure about that? Are you sure she didn't go in the house with you? No.
Nothing happened, OK.
I told you.
That's it.
Look, I'm trying to figure this out.
You give us the laptop, then the knife.
I know you're trying to do the right thing; I can see that.
But we got a dead body here.
A guy who came over just to be with his wife.
We just wanna know what happened.
Nothing happened, man, OK? I told ya.
That's it.
Look, maybe you're walking down the street that morning.
You see the garage door open, so you thought, you know, you'd go inside, take a look around, see if they needed any help with the yard work.
Maybe that was Lauren's idea.
And then maybe you saw the laptop.
And maybe you got surprised by Joel Zalsos.
Oh, no, no, I never went into the house.
OK.
Go check.
But what about Lauren? Did she go inside? No, Lauren had nothing to do with it, OK? I had nothing to do with it, man.
I don't know what else to tell you.
[SHARP KNOCK AT THE DOOR.]
I'll be right back, Shane.
Maybe he just wanted to protect his girl.
But if they weren't involved, how did they end up smack dab in the middle of this investigation with such pertinent physical evidence and knowledge of its exact location? Autopsy's in.
[DOOR CLOSES.]
BUCHOLTZ: Twenty-three wounds in total.
Front and rear chest, upper back, right arm, left hand, and then there are the injuries to the face.
There were five slashes.
Left ear, cheek, jaw.
What was the cause of death? Well, there were two wounds to the heart, and normally that would have been fatal.
CAVILLA: But But the rest of the injuries were so severe, he bled out first.
This was quite an attack, gentlemen.
The crime itself was so violent, it didn't necessarily make sense as a uh, crime of opportunity.
It was perhaps something more uh, planned and deliberate and targeted at Joel Zalsos in that bedroom at that time.
It was personal.
I'd say it's certainly consistent with a crime of passion.
This doesn't feel like a robbery gone wrong to me.
Even if Thompson was surprised, fear doesn't make someone do something like this.
CAVILLA: You're right.
And I can't picture Lauren hurting someone like this.
[QUICK DOOR KNOCK.]
The DNA analysis of Shane and Lauren came back from the crime lab.
They were both negative.
We had to let them go.
And that left us with nothing.
The uh, autopsy report came back and uh, what it revealed was a uh, a very brutal death.
Twenty stab wounds to Joel Zalsos.
There's some hatred here.
As the months passed by, I began to think to myself, you know what, I may have missed something at the beginning.
Joel Zalsos had arrived from the Philippines to be with his wife.
Within a month, he's murdered.
I'm running out of ideas.
I mean, Zalsos, he was barely here a month.
He didn't know anyone outside of the community and even then, he only really knew Divina well.
I keep thinking I've missed something.
- What do you mean? - It wasn't a robbery gone wrong.
There was a lot of anger behind it.
What do you think? Could he have gotten mixed up in something criminal? That, I doubt it.
These people are foreign workers.
People like Divina, Joel, they're just here to work hard, help their families back home.
They get into any kind of trouble, anything at all, they can get deported.
Having been Canadian my entire life, I can only imagine what that feels like.
Joe Malicdem is of Filipino origin; he had insight into the Filipino community that I just didn't.
Would you mind taking a look at the files? See if anything went over my head? I'd be happy to.
[CRICKETS CHIRP.]
Oftentimes the police are criticized for tunnel vision.
We had to step back and reassess.
At this point, it's not such a crime of opportunity.
What other reasonable explanation is there? Who would want to harm Joel Zalsos? What were we missing? Hey.
Thanks.
You working another angle? This attack was angry.
This was vicious.
But we've been thinking it's personal, but maybe it's not just about Joel.
Maybe it's about the community.
Some of these people, they work a couple of jobs each.
Some of them more than that.
Jobs that some of our less than enlightened citizens might feel like they don't deserve.
What are you thinking? You remember this? Two skinheads beat a man to death.
Stomped his head into the pavement.
Yeah.
That's easy walking distance from Joel and Divina's house.
So a house full of foreign workers living near skinhead territory.
The skinheads spot the Filipinos and they want to send a clear message that they're not welcome here.
A hate crime.
Right under our noses.
Maybe somebody didn't like a house full of foreign workers in their neighbourhood.
Zalsos would have been an ideal target for somebody trying to uh, forward that agenda.
MALICDEM: Tommy! Tommy, I think I got something.
It's about Divina.
I had her texts translated.
They were in a dialect I don't know, so I had to reach out to some of my friends in the community.
I've been trying to read between the lines and I'm pretty sure she's been cheating on Joel with some guy named Franco.
I remember Franco from the construction site.
Yeah.
That guy? Yeah, look.
Well, she's saying he's ugly.
Well, the word's pangit.
It means ugly, but it's a term of endearment.
A pet name.
Not uncommon.
I'm gonna go talk to Franco.
We didn't swab his DNA.
And Divina, too.
She's got a lot of explaining to do.
I had no idea how I could have missed this.
I should have picked up on the connection between Franco and Divina.
Franco had lied to me.
I should have taken his DNA.
I made a mistake.
Hey! You remember me, Franco? Yes, of course.
Is everything all right? Well, I guess that depends on whether or not you're going to tell me the truth.
Can we talk in private? Yes.
What's the nature of your relationship with Divina? We were friends.
You're going to have to do better than that, Franco.
We want the truth about you and Divina, that's all.
We have her text messages, Franco.
We know that you two were more than just friends.
She's down at the station right now telling us all about it.
Do you still want to pretend that you two weren't close? OK.
OK.
Before Joel got here, me and Divina we were together.
Did it stop when Joel came over? No.
Why didn't you tell me that the last time? I was scared of of being sent back home.
Of losing everything that I worked for.
OK, OK.
OK, look, it doesn't matter who you're sleeping with.
We don't deport people for that.
Now, is there anything else that you want to tell us about Joel? No.
I-I swear to you.
That's not good enough, Franco.
We're clearing everyone who came into contact with the crime scene.
Would you be willing to submit a DNA sample? Convince me you've got nothing else to hide? Franco was terrified of being deported.
You just take it and you swab your cheek.
He had worked very hard to be in this county.
And I don't think he really wanted to go home.
Thank you, Franco.
He seemed to be a young man who was in love with a woman that he couldn't have.
There's a real explanation for why he's not being forthright.
He's, he's protecting her honor.
I didn't say anything because I didn't want to be deported.
Please.
[SOB.]
My family needs me here.
Please let me stay.
[SNIFF.]
I know having an affair was wrong.
I don't know who killed Joel.
I'm sorry, I don't.
I loved him.
[SOBBING.]
[DOOR OPENS.]
[DOOR CLOSES.]
What do you think? I don't think she's got anything to do with this.
Did we bring Franco in? I just got the swab.
[PHONE RINGS.]
Detective Barrow.
I could hear this small voice, this tiny voice.
Uh, I'm sorry, say that again? Detective Barrow.
Sorry, who is this? It's telling me, I want to confess.
I want to turn myself in.
I will never forget that call.
It's one of those days in my 25-year career that I'll always remember.
A murderer wanting to confess his crime.
I was excited.
I was starting to piece together what had happened.
I hadn't doubted my instincts during this investigation, but with that phone call, I started to second guess many of my decisions.
This time I was going to make sure the facts don't slip through unaddressed.
[DOOR CLOSES.]
Franco? What's going on? I I want to talk in the car.
OK.
Whatever you want, Franco.
Whatever you want.
I had to stop him, read him his rights, ensure that he understood them, that he didn't have to speak to me.
And yet he still chose to.
[CAR DOOR CLOSES.]
- [DOOR CLOSES.]
- It's my fault.
It's all my fault.
Please you have to listen to me.
Hey, I promise I'll listen to whatever you have to say, but you have to tell me what happened.
Franco was terrified.
He wanted to say something to me.
He says, yeah, I killed Joel Zalsos.
I did it.
I killed Joel.
I stabbed him.
Look, if what you're telling me is true, then we need to get down to the station.
No-no-no please.
Let me explain.
Franco, we'll sort this whole thing out.
OK? I needed to get him to the station.
I needed to get the whole story.
We had a lot of forensic evidence that we hadn't quite linked to Franco at that point.
We needed him to link himself.
[FOOTSTEPS.]
So, he confessed.
Mm hm.
I don't get it, Cavilla.
How could I have this guy so wrong? I still barely believe it.
I pride myself on being able to read people and I missed it.
I just wasn't able to read that level of violence into him.
I just liked the guy.
He didn't seem like a killer to me.
Franco misled me once; I wasn't going to let him do it again.
This time I was going to show a judge and jury exactly what Franco did.
We needed to find out everything from start to finish, but I couldn't force it out of him; I had to take it easy.
I'm really glad you called me, Franco.
Yeah.
You know that thing that you told me about Joel in the car, you'll feel a lot better once you get it off your chest.
I'm listening.
I'm the reason why Joel is dead.
You killed him.
Yes.
Self-defence.
There's no way that it was self-defense.
The level of violence involved in this, it was very clear that it was planned and deliberate.
You were in love with her, weren't you? Well, that must have been hard seeing her with Joel like that.
It must have been difficult for you.
Yes.
How long had you been having the affair? A few months.
Did Joel know? Yes.
He threatened me.
Said if I didn't stop seeing her, he would report my affair to the government and get me deported.
That must have been terrifying.
You were going to lose the woman that you love, the life you worked so hard for.
You know, I can see why you'd be mad at Joel.
I can see why you'd want to make him stop.
No, it wasn't like that.
I wanted to get him to promise not to tell anyone.
And when he saw me, I told him I just wanted to talk to him.
But he hit me.
And then he reached for something under his pillow.
I thought it was a weapon.
So I grabbed my knife.
Where'd you get that, the knife? I brought it from home.
You have to understand, the last time we spoke, he threatened me.
I just wanted to protect myself.
I understand.
I understand.
What happened next? I don't know.
I blacked out.
OK, come on, he he was turned around like this, reached back behind the pillow to grab something.
Just like, like this.
OK, you know what? Why don't you stand up for me and just show me.
Where were you? So, so I'll be, I'll be Joel.
I'm standing here, right? I reach back behind the pillow here.
Is that where you were? Yeah, I can see how it'd be really hard for you to see what he was reaching for.
Yes.
Exactly.
OK.
So then he comes back; he turns around like this.
He's already hit you once; you can't see what he's holding in his hand.
A-and then what did you do, what, what happened? I I hit Joel here.
And then he fell down right there.
And then you stabbed him over and over, right? I don't know.
You stab me.
Stab me.
Stab me.
Show me what you did.
Go ahead.
Stab me, for real, stab me.
Stab me.
Show me, show me what you did.
Stab me.
No, for real, stab me! Come on! There I am in this interview room with Franco Sevandal on, on top of me, showing me how he - how he's stabbing Joel.
And it was a it was a very surreal moment when you, when you you realize that he's re-enacting a murder.
Why'd you stop? The knife slipped.
I cut myself here.
But that wasn't the end of it, right? I mean, you didn't just walk away.
No, I stabbed him again.
Stab me, show me what you did! Stab me! Right, he was going to ruin your life here.
- Yes.
- You were angry he found out - about you and Divina, right? - Yes.
Really stab me! Come on, he's gonna send you back home! - Yes! - You'd be ashamed; you'd be humiliated! [SHOUTS.]
[SOB.]
He ruined everything.
[SOBBING.]
What'd he have in his hand, Franco? What did he grab from behind the pillow? A phone.
A phone! Self-defense? I'm sorry.
Franco went there to confront Joel.
If you tell the authorities on me, I'm gonna kill you.
[DOOR CLOSES.]
And that's what happened.
And he stabbed and he stabbed repeatedly, until Zalsos fell to the ground and died.
When Joel died, his family raised $15,000 to bring his body back home.
He could be with the family he sacrificed so much to support.
Franco was in love with a married woman the woman that he couldn't have, and her husband was threatening to report him to the authorities and have him removed from the country.
Franco lashed out at him and it resulted in the death of Joel Zalsos.
And he's gonna have to live with that for the rest of his life.