Close to Home (2005) s01e13 Episode Script

Make a sound and you die.
Hey, I need you to go to the hospital and interview a victim.
Uh, absolutely.
On my way.
Just let me grab a cup of coffee.
Morning, Maureen.
Morning.
What is it, insomnia? Breast-feeding.
Breast-feeding? Your kid's sleeping through the night.
Who are you breast-feeding? Excuse me.
I'm trying to build up my breast-milk reserve, so I get up at night to pump.
Okay, first of all, we agreed to never discuss this subject again, and second of all, how long are you gonna keep this up? Supplying nutrients and immunities to my baby? As long as I can, Steve.
You're not gonna be one of those moms who breast-feeds their kid until they're or 12 or something, right? Because that's creepy.
I'm not gonna be creepy and can we please add this to the list of conversations we won't be having? Works for me.
The victim's name is Casey Wurth.
A guy forced his way into her home last night, raped and beat her.
Cops arrest anybody? Not yet, but they will.
Brian Ford was released three weeks ago after serving time for raping two women.
Last night was right up his alley.
Home invasion, knife used to subdue the victim.
Four blocks from the crime scene.
And about a mile or so away from where I live.
You're gonna be seeing a lot those.
Interview the victim, then we'll go from there.
Okay.
Wouldn't want to be you today, pal.
WURTH: I had my key ready before I got to the door.
You're supposed to do that so you can get in the house as soon as possible.
I always did that.
Take your time, Casey.
He pushed me inside.
I guess he hit me, because I went down.
He kept hitting me.
I begged him to stop, but he wouldn't.
Did you recognize him? It was dark.
I only saw a sliver of his face.
He was maybe six feet, dark brownish hair.
I could taste blood in my mouth.
It didn't seem real.
I could feel myself going out and I knew I wouldn't wake up.
But then I did and he was gone.
Casey, do you have any idea who might've done this to you? Was anyone threatening you? Old boyfriends? No.
I'm sorry, I'm not helping.
( crying ): Oh, you're not gonna be able to find him.
I'm gonna do everything I can.
These hedges are pretty high.
Perfect place to lie in wait.
Do you think he was after her specifically? I don't know.
She doesn't see anyone when she's coming up the sidewalk.
Gets to the door she's grabbed from behind.
Seemed like the guy was already there.
Stepped out of the shadows.
Any amount of force he used has already bought him an upgrade to a class A felony.
Lying in wait? I could go for consecutive sentences.
When can we expect DNA analysis on hair and fibers? There are no hair and fibers.
No semen, either.
He must've used a condom.
Also wore gloves, so no fingerprints.
Guy's a pro.
This case is gonna come down to an ID.
But the victim has no idea who would've done this to her.
Her neighbors do.
Have you talked to them yet? Got a unit over there right now.
Apparently he's claiming he was at the mall.
He did eight years for raping two women.
Yeah.
That's just not enough.
MAUREEN: Can't find what you're looking for? I forgot what I was looking for.
Do you need to go home and take a nap or something? What I need is a pot of real coffee.
But I've already had my one cup for the day.
So, I'm fine.
Thank you.
You don't seem fine.
You seem kind of out of it.
I just spent the morning listening to a girl who was violated in unspeakable ways.
So, if I'm a little depleted emotionally, I think that makes me human, right? Excuse me.
Danny, I need a list of registered sex offenders living in a 20 miles radius of Casey Wurth's attack.
Also, get me whatever we have on Brian Ford, convicted rapist, recently paroled.
Brian Ford.
Got it.
No problem.
Just got a head's up.
There's gonna be a town meeting this afternoon about the guy on the flyers.
I told them you'd be there.
The last thing we need is villagers with torches running through the street trying to capture their own monster.
Just tell them that the prosecutor's office is investigating and let us do our job.
See what you can do to calm things down.
No.
No, no, no, no.
You don't want me representing you at that meeting.
Why not? Steve, I live around here.
I'm with the villagers on this.
I don't want a rapist living next door.
He has served his time.
According to the state of Indiana, he is a private citizen.
He is a repeat offender and he may have just brutally raped Casey Wurth.
Then you will prove that in a court of law and put him away.
Meanwhile, go to the meeting.
Don't let it get out of control.
You wanted to see me? Yes.
I'd like to make a suggestion on how we handle this rape case.
I'm all ears.
We're gonna have to move pretty quickly to stay ahead of public sentiment.
Annabeth's exhausted.
She'll be fine.
I'm not so sure.
Nobody forced her to come back to work.
If she wants to juggle a baby and a job, that's her business.
My mother used to say the definition of juggling is something's always falling.
Steve, we cannot afford a mistake on this.
So what do you want to do? Take it away from her? Maybe.
No.
All I'm saying is, maybe we're expecting too much from her right now.
And as her supervisor, I'm concerned.
Part of managing people is knowing when to push them and when to let them figure things out for themselves.
Yes, but Steve She will be fine.
But you are now her supervisor, so feel free to supervise.
This is Danny Robel from the D.
A.
's office.
I need all existing records on Brian Ford.
Uh, rap sheet, prison record, probation report.
Thank you.
Thanks.
Hello, everyone.
I'm George Roberts, Councilman for this district.
I live at 1517 Goren Place.
Yes, that's right.
The same street as Brian Ford.
So I'm very invested in keeping him under control.
Why don't they lock him up? I'm going to let Officer Harmon answer that question.
At the moment, we have no evidence tying him to the crime.
MAN: What's he doing in our neighborhood? He should not be allowed to live among decent people.
I agree, sir.
But you're gonna have to change the laws.
Now, maybe the representative from the prosecutor's office could speak to that.
Ms.
Chase, are you here? Come here, sweetie.
I'm Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Annabeth Chase.
Officer Harmon is correct.
The laws allow Brian Ford to live wherever he wants as long as he registers as a sex offender and checks in with his parole officer.
But we're doing everything we can to figure out who committed the recent assault.
Brian Ford did it.
WOMAN: That's right.
That's right.
We'll need to make that case, sir.
So we're supposed to wait for him to hurt somebody else? I'm afraid to jog by myself in the morning or even take my dog to the park.
That's why we're here, right? To organize a neighborhood watch.
I've been watching him since the day he moved in.
I saw on the Internet that he was being let out.
That's all anybody was doing, just putting the information on a website.
So I started following him.
He got away from me that night.
I mean, what are the odds that the one night I can't find him, him that girl gets raped? We can't wait for law enforcement.
We've got to get rid of him.
MAN: That's right.
Now, now be careful Don.
Be careful.
We'd hate to see you get into trouble.
No trouble at all.
In fact I've got my .
45 out in the truck.
I'll be happy to go castrate the son of a bitch right now.
MAN: That's the way! I'm sorry, sir, what is your name? Don Wheeler.
Mr.
Wheeler, we're all a little upset, but I'm sure you don't mean to make threats in the presence of a police officer and a prosecutor.
MAN: Why not? Look, I live here, too, okay? I want to feel safe, but we have to let the police and the courts do their jobs.
All right, all right.
We need to focus our energy.
I've got sign-up sheets for each block.
If we can organize a successful neighborhood watch, keep an eye on this guy maybe we can discourage him from even living here.
So, if you'll just step up and sign up we can get this program rolling right away.
All we need is your name, your address, your phone number and what hours you might be available.
I don't know who scares me the most: Brian Ford or the guy who volunteered to castrate him.
If Brian Ford ever got near you, I'd kill him.
Jack.
He's been living less than a mile from us, okay? And I had no idea.
And what would you have done if you'd known? I don't know.
That's where he lives.
Look at those flowers.
Yeah, all he has to do is cut through a few yards, walk a couple of blocks.
We'll be okay, Jack.
You're damn right.
You're damn right we're gonna be okay, cause from now on, I'm keeping an eye on this guy.
You're starting to sound like Don Wheeler.
Well, he's got a point.
Look, I just, I don't want you getting all worked up and doing something stupid, okay? It's not stupid to want to protect your family.
No, honey, of course not.
And it's not stupid to believe that rapists will rape again.
Let's go home.
K, Did you hear what happened to Brian Ford? Yeah.
I'm on my way to the police station to hear his complaint.
Any word on his alibi the night of the rape? Nobody ID'd him at the mall.
The police went store-to-store with his mug shot.
We need the surveillance tapes.
And you get the privilege of going through them all.
Look at me, I'm in a dream.
I got to go.
Nothing like listening to a convicted rapist whine first thing in the morning.
Get those tapes.
I had that car less than a month.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Annabeth Chase, this is Brian Ford.
I want these people prosecuted.
They, they set my car on fire, they took a baseball bat to my windows.
Did you see who did it? I didn't see their faces.
These people are crazy.
And I demand protection.
I am a United States citizen.
I have the right to feel safe.
We all have that right.
Unfortunately, some people don't respect it.
I didn't rape that girl.
I was at the mall.
We checked that out, Mr.
Ford.
Nobody remembers seeing you there.
Well, that's where I was.
So you better start looking for somebody else and take those flyers down with my face on them or I will sue this city for all it's worth.
Send me a copy of his statement.
I'll look at it.
We don't have enough to arrest him.
Brian Ford fits the physical description.
You factor in his recent release, as far as I'm concerned, he's our guy.
The M.
O.
s are different.
They both used knives.
That's not what I'm talking about.
Okay, so where are we with this? Brian Ford's prior attacks were considered power rapes.
He used a knife to control his victims, but he never cut them or beat them.
He tried to engage them in sexual fantasies.
And Casey Wurth? Hers was a classic anger rape.
The assailant beat the hell out of her.
So the guy was angry.
Brian Ford's been locked up for the last eight years.
That'll piss a guy off.
You think Brian Ford changed his M.
O.
? I think he wanted revenge and he got it on Casey Wurth.
We need to get him off the street.
Maureen, I have to make this stick in court.
I mean, I can't just go into a bail hearing and say, "We all just think it's him, Your Honor.
" What do you need? To do my homework, to widen the net.
I just want to make sure we get the right guy.
Okay, do it.
Okay.
Let's run possible likely and look-alikes in the area who fit the M.
O.
Danny will check out Brian Ford's alibi.
ANNABETH: We have received 250 calls today all asking why we have not arrested Brian Ford.
Yeah, about that-- bad news.
His alibi checked out.
He's caught on a security camera at the mall at 8:30 that night.
The rape occurred around 10:30.
That still gives him plenty of time.
Let's see what we have.
These are the 15 registered sex offenders in the radius.
Four of them don't fit the physical description, three are pedophiles and two have been missing for over a year.
DANNY: Missing? It happens.
Guys register and then leave the area.
Unfortunate flaw in the system.
That leaves these six.
They've all been out of prison for at least a year, and, to our knowledge, none of re-offended.
Greg Weiss, eight years for raping an elderly neighbor.
Doug Cronan, raped a 16-year-old girl across the street.
Alan Rayfield did ten years for the abduction and rape of a woman he worked with.
Now he says he was with his girlfriend the night of Casey's attack.
These guys have girlfriends? Go figure.
Bill Nava, preyed on hookers.
Ed Young stalked and raped a nurse who reminded him of his mother.
Last but not least, Brian Ford.
Who now has a semi-believable alibi.
Which could be enough to confuse a jury.
The victim said she got a glimpse of him, right? I'll put together a six pack of them and see if she can make an I.
D.
Casey, I'm about to ask you to do something very difficult, but I need you to concentrate and be honest.
Okay.
Casey, I want you to visualize your attacker.
I'm going to present you with a piece of paper showing six photos.
I'm not indicating whether your attacker's in there.
Do you understand? Yes.
See if you recognize him.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Hold on.
I think that's him.
STEVEN: Number three? Yes.
Are you sure? You're under no obligation.
Yes.
Oh, my God, that's him.
That's the man who raped me.
Arrest him.
We got him.
We got him.
that Brian Ford be held without bond.
The victim picked him out of a photo array.
My client was identified because his face is plastered on flyers all over town.
The prosecution has no physical evidence, a security tape verifies my client's alibi.
I will have experts lined up around the block to argue mistaken I.
D.
and false memory.
You will have your chance, Mr.
Drucker.
I'm holding Mr.
Ford on one million dollars bail, but I'm giving Ms.
Chase to prove to me that he is a flight risk or a risk to community safety.
Next case.
Her victim's I.
D.
isn't going to be enough to hold this guy.
All right, put a rush on the lab results.
Let's see if anything comes back that matches Brian Ford.
Search his house.
Nothing gets by, okay? I'll meet you there.
You got it.
Ms.
Chase.
I brought you these.
What is it? My surveillance reports; photos, videos.
You can use them to put Brian Ford away.
Mr.
Wheeler, what is going on here? We're all concerned, but you seem to be taking it to another level.
Maybe I just have a lower tolerance for this kind of thing.
Your behavior is dangerously close to becoming criminal.
Now, you need to stop obsessing about this case and get back to your normal life.
I haven't had a normal life in five years.
Not since one of these creeps took my daughter from me.
I'm I'm sorry, I didn't know.
She was 14 walking home from school, and he grabbed her off the street, drove away with her.
She was missing for six days.
You know how long six days is? I went on the news, pleading The whole time she was laying at the bottom of the Geist reservoir.
Somebody raped her and strangled her and threw her in the lake like she was some kind of trash.
Did they find him? No.
No, the police said he probably just moved on to another town, another state.
There are plenty of lakes.
Mr.
Wheeler, you understand Brian Ford was in prison five years ago.
He couldn't have raped your daughter.
He raped somebody's daughter.
Got the lab results back from the crime scene.
Casey Wurth's blood, broken glass.
Was there glass in Brian Ford's car? There was glass, but we couldn't make a positive match.
Of course, the fire didn't help.
So you find anything interesting? A couple of changes of clothes in the closet, frozen dinners in the fridge.
Guy wasn't living large.
He likes TV.
Huh.
He highlights the TV listings so he won't miss his favorite shows.
And the flower garden.
What? I don't know.
He's he's got hobbies.
So? So nothing.
Check his phone bill, see who his friends are, d talk to his cable company.
I want to know what he's watching and when.
I'll go back and take a look at Mr.
Wheeler's so-called evidence.
You need help going through all that? That's why God invented paralegals.
Mr.
Wheeler put captions on the back of the photos.
He took notes.
Can you say "obsessive"? Okay, so where do we stand? Do we have enough for a trial? I don't know.
I mean, I've handled a lot of rape cases, and there are certain behaviors you're going to see in repeat offenders.
I'm not seeing them.
And, look, he's not initiating contact with women, old girlfriends, girls on the street.
He's not calling sex lines, he's not watching porn.
Look at his cable bills.
He's catching up on his Adam Sandler movies.
You're looking for an obsession with sex.
You said yourself it was an anger rape.
Okay, but nothing we have on Brian Ford supports the profile of an angry guy.
He watches television, he seldom leaves the house.
When he does, he keeps his head down, he doesn't talk to people.
He made a flower garden for God's sake.
What are you saying? His mug shot was plastered all over town, and maybe that is why she ID'd him.
I'm saying, Maureen, right now, I could not convince a jury that Brian Ford raped Casey Wurth because I'm not convinced myself.
I'm saying we may be onto the wrong guy.
MAUREEN: All right, then talk to the victim again.
Casey, I hate to ask you this, but I have to.
Are you absolutely sure Brian Ford is the man who attacked you? You don't believe me? If he's the one, I will go after him with everything I have.
But if he's not, the defense will drive a hole through our case.
And, Casey, whoever did this to you will still be out there and will do it to someone else.
So I need you to think, I need you to put yourself back there I don't want to put myself back there.
I want it all to go away.
I want to be able to walk into my house without breaking into a cold sweat.
I want to stop looking at the men on the street, imagining all the horrible things they're capable of.
I want to be able to sleep.
I can't sleep because I know he's there in the dark.
I see him over me, I hear him.
I'm sorry.
( cries ): It's him.
It has to be him.
It's him.
I'm sure.
It's him.
What's going on? I'm going to pump.
Go back to bed.
Baby, it's 4:22 in the morning.
You got to get up soon.
It's okay, I need to do this.
You're going to burn out, honey, okay? Haley's okay.
I don't want her to be okay.
I want her to be as healthy as possible.
I don't want her getting sick because I decided to go back to work.
Come here.
How are we supposed to do this? Hmm? Seriously, I mean what do we do when there's people out there like Brian Ford? We look out for her.
We lock our doors and teach her to do the same.
And I go to work tomorrow and try to put the bad guys away.
(announcer) SPRINT'S NEW FAIto Casey Wurth, I slept on it.
I just don't think Brian Ford's our guy.
What do you mean, this isn't the guy? The victim ID'd him.
This is the guy.
She needs him to be the guy, Steve.
There are a lot of sex offenders out there.
It could be any one of a hundred.
Then it's probably exactly who we think it is.
Annabeth's the one who has to argue it in court, and she doesn't feel she can make a case.
So let's figure out what we're going to do.
Well, I'll tell you what we're not going to do-- release Brian Ford before we've charged somebody else.
Town'll go crazy and I'll get another call from the D.
A.
Okay, where were you before you zeroed in on Brian Ford? We had five other likely suspects, but we never finished going over their alibis or cross-checking their histories against Casey Wurth's.
Bring them in.
Keep it quiet and make it quick.
You got 24 hours before you have to be back in front of a judge again.
Tell me about that night.
I already told you.
And now you'll tell me again.
My mother brought me dinner.
We watched Jeopardy.
That's our thing.
CRONAN: I don't know anything about it, except I didn't do it.
I was at a card game.
And I got three buddies that'll tell you the same thing.
So the name means nothing? Casey Wurth.
Come on, she's your neighbor, man.
You are aware that being at the track is a violation of your parole? Annabeth.
Hey, Danny, what's up? I got a hit.
Casey worked at a warehouse store a year ago with Alan Rayfield.
It's the same M.
O.
as the rape he was convicted for.
Great.
Mr.
Rayfield? This is Deputy Prosecutor Chase.
Open up.
Let's check around back.
Yeah.
Excuse me.
You're Alan Rayfield's girlfriend, right? Could you tell us where he is? I don't know, out of town? I'm sorry, what was your name again? Sunny.
Right.
Sunny, we need to find him right now, so I'm going to ask you one more time.
Where's Alan? I don't know.
Wrong answer.
Take her in.
You brought in Rayfield's girlfriend.
Yeah, and I think she's covering for him.
You want me to handle it? No, I can do it.
If we're gonna break this girl, things need to get very ugly very quickly.
Maureen, who are you talking to? I am offering to help, so you don't feel like it's all on you.
It is all on me.
I have to find the right guy, and if she knows who that is, she's gonna tell me.
You can watch from the observation room.
If I'm not getting the job done, come on in.
No mercy.
ANNABETH: How long have you been seeing Alan Rayfield? Maybe six months.
You know he did time? Sure.
You know why? Yeah.
It doesn't bother you? He's not like that with me.
You mean he doesn't stalk and rape you? Do you know what he did to the girl he worked with? I don't want to know.
You should know who you're sleeping with.
Who you're protecting.
I'm not.
You're lying for him, Sunny, we both know that.
He hid in her car.
Put a gun to her head, told her to drive.
Stop it, please.
He took her to the woods, raped and tortured her for seven hours.
Stop.
He had a girlfriend then, too, Sunny.
She tried to lie for him, just like you.
I think that girlfriend should have been tried as an accessory.
She as good as held down his victim while Alan raped her.
Is that what you're doing, Sunny? Is your self-esteem so low, you think the only love you're ever gonna get is from a sexual predator? Does he tell you he loves you? Because he's not capable of that.
He has a 72% chance of re-offending.
Do you want him around your friends? Your sister? God forbid you ever have children.
He wasn't with you that night, was he? Was he? No.
I don't know where he was, but he wasn't with me.
I was just coming to see you.
They released you? My brother posted bail.
He had to put up his business.
It's not appropriate for you to be You should be ashamed of yourself.
You made me a target.
You made yourself a target when you raped two women.
Now get out of my way.
No, no, no.
Listen to me.
Get your hands off of her.
Mr.
Wheeler Are you nuts? They never should have let you out.
Freeze! Drop the weapon.
Put your hands over your head.
Mr.
Wheeler I've got you covered.
Please don't do this.
He's scum.
Put the gun down.
Don't ruin your life.
I don't have a life.
But I can do one good thing now.
I said drop the weapon.
Mr.
Wheeler, please.
Give me the gun.
Please, give me the gun.
He deserves to die.
( ringing ) Annabeth Chase.
We spotted Rayfield at home.
Now? Right now.
Okay, I'll get a warrant.
I'll meet you there.
OFFICER: Alan Rayfield, you're under arrest for the rape of Casey Wurth.
Get your hands off of me! We found these gloves.
They're caked with blood.
And he kept them? Souvenir.
Excuse me.
Sure.
JUDGE: Ms.
Chase, I hope you're not pinning this case on another victim I.
D.
That ship has sailed.
No, Your Honor.
We have concrete evidence of Alan Rayfield's guilt.
During the vicious attack on Casey Wurth, a lamp was broken and shattered on the floor.
We found broken glass embedded in a pair of Mr.
Rayfield's shoes.
The glass was a match to the broken glass from the lamp at the crime scene.
The search of Mr.
Rayfield's apartment also yielded gloves, which matched the description of the gloves used by Casey Wurth's attacker.
Initial tests show the gloves contain more than one person's blood.
I believe this evidence will allow us to solve not only this case, but other cases, as well.
Your Honor, this was a violent, torturous sexual assault.
This is Mr.
Rayfield's second such assault, and we intend to prosecute him on all possible counts, to the full extent of the law.
We believe he is a flight risk, as well as a danger to this community.
And, therefore, the state is asking, Your Honor, to hold him without bail until trial.
Granted.
What do you want? Thirty.
How about 20? Thirty minimum.
I like my chances with a jury.
I'll talk to him.
We did it.
We got him.
You did.
I hope you'll be able to sleep now.
Mr.
Wheeler? I heard you put in a good word for me.
You're being charged with a weapons violation and menacing.
But it's your first arrest.
I'm sure your lawyer will work something out.
I've been thinking about your daughter.
I'd like to reopen the case.
There have been a lot of advances in criminal forensics in the last five years.
I'd really like to take a shot, if that's okay with you.
I would appreciate that.
Hey, baby.
Hey.
What's with the beeping? It's an alarm system.
Now, I don't mean to scare you, I just figured Hey you okay? Hey, something wrong? I'm fine now.
Is Haley asleep? Yeah.
I gave her a bottle; she went right off.
Thank you.
I'm going to put this stuff away, and I'll meet you upstairs.