Killing Fields (2016) s02e05 Episode Script
The Raid
1 They found a black male in a drum in the water from between 10 and 30 years.
They're gonna send it to a lab and hopefully get a positive profile that way.
Curtis Smith, nickname "Cochise.
" From day frickin' one, I knew the person that I think committed this homicide Tommy Francise.
The one kidney you have remaining has a couple spots on it.
We get concerned that it could possibly be a recurrence or a new kidney cancer.
That house is where Tommy said he killed Cochise.
Hey.
Warrants are signed.
I been dying for a long time to knock on that door and tell him, "hey, get your ass out the way" because here's your warrant.
"I'm coming in.
" You know, I've been after Tommy Francise for 25 years.
I finally got a warrant to search his house, the exact spot where Cochise is supposed to have been killed.
Hear the devil callin' Hear the devil callin' Tommy's a very dangerous person.
He's got a rap sheet probably a mile and half long.
He's never done hard time.
He think he's above the law.
I'm getting old.
My health is declining.
But you know what? If we find enough evidence this time, after 25 years, Cochise's family gets the answers they've been looking for all their life.
Tommy's long reign of trouble will come to an end.
This guy is a powder keg ready to blow, so be very careful when we hit this house.
I don't want anybody to get hurt doing this thing.
We pull in the driveway, he gonna be thinking, "they're coming to get me.
" He's not gonna think "search warrant.
" No, he's gonna be thinking "arrest warrant.
" I say we have to hit him early, catch him preferably when he's in bed, the least expected.
- Exactly.
- 'Cause you never know - what's expected.
- You can choose to execute a search warrant at any time you want.
We choose to execute Tommy's search warrant in the morning hours, the more likely you catch him in his sleep.
Sometimes, the element of surprise is the best weapon that we have.
You know, I spoke to Tony Clayton.
We're gonna try to find any weapons that could have been used during that time.
If we find a barrel, try to find a manufacturer name on it, some kind of identifying information.
Tony Clayton is our assistant district attorney.
He's our felony prosecutor.
Were we able to lift any DNA from her body? It's our job to find everything that Tony Clayton needs pertaining to Cochise's death.
We're looking for guns, a barrel, and we need blood in Tommy's house that belongs to Curtis.
Lori is gonna light this thing up to see if we can detect any traces of blood.
If there is blood there, it will illuminate blue.
I will swab it and then do the presumptive test for human blood.
If there was blood in that house, there's a chance we can get trace evidence that could link Curtis to being murdered in that house, and then this case is solved.
That's Tommy's.
That search warrant gives us permission to search any building or structure on that property.
So, that's a vast area we can search.
- All this is his? - Yep.
Holy.
That's a lot of vehicles to go through.
Pack a lunch.
This is Tommy's house, where the green "x" is marked.
Little Brett and Lori will cover the front-left corner.
Rodie, you got the back right.
Jeremy, you got the back left.
Me and mark will cover to the back.
We can get back to y'all in case stuff breaks loose.
Once we serve him the search warrant, and if he wants to escort us to the house, fine.
If not, we're going on our own, put him in a corner, put him in time-out, and you can clear the house.
I know we're not going in like S.
W.
A.
T.
, - but we're vesting up, right? - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I suggest y'all vest up.
Rodie, do you even own a bulletproof vest? I think I got one from world war ii.
- A flak jacket? - More like civil war.
"T" minus 15 minutes.
Jeremy, you got that search warrant? Yeah! The most unpredictable creature that walks this earth is a human being.
You never know what a human being is gonna do, and we've got to be vigilant.
Now that Tommy knows we're investigating him, it heightens the chance that we meet some resistance from him.
Our lives could be in jeopardy.
Dear lord, it means a lot for what we are trying to do This man to justice and getting some closure for the family.
Give us strength, give us clarity of mind, but keep us safe most of all.
In your heavenly name, we pray.
Amen.
Ready? I was born ready.
When we enter that door, clear the house.
Let's go.
Here we go.
Let's get this done.
Go! Go! Go! Green! Green! Green! Green! Sheriff's office.
No folks on the inside.
You and rodie check the outside area.
10-4.
Sheriff's office.
Clear.
Sheriff's office.
Clear.
- Clear? - Clear.
Let's go back here.
This room is clear, y'all.
Green! Green! Green! Green! Hey, get on the ground.
Get on the ground! - Get on the ground! - Get on the ground! Get on the ground! Tommy's not there.
Two people we do find on the property One, the woman Another one was one of his employees, goes back the name of J.
D.
When you do a search warrant, we secure the premises.
We secure the people make sure they're not a threat.
Then, you continue with the search of the property.
There's nothing in here.
That property is full of junk.
Looked like a salvage yard in his backyard.
Y'all checked that shed over there? Yes, that shed over there, too.
We have a .
22 rifle in evidence.
We had it checked out.
It's not the gun we're looking for.
- This is clear.
- Nothing? Nothing.
So, that gun There's a great possibility it's still in that damn house.
And the sad part of it all is we got to sift through all that to try to find that gun.
I don't see anything.
No barrels, no bodies, nothing? Holy.
Smell that yo.
I was shocked to see how that house was.
You know, he has a whole just bunch of junk.
So much stuff.
It's like you're going in a warehouse full of crates, freezers, and icebox, tools and But let me say this much From the looks of that home, he could have hid an elephant in there, and you wouldn't have found it.
Bingo.
"Bad girls.
" This room's clear.
This is clear.
- Office clear.
- Closet is clear.
We're looking both inside and out.
We even went through the crawl spaces - No gun, no nothing.
- Think that's it.
Lori Morgan, find me some blood.
We need to focus on the kitchen area to find bloodstains where we believe Curtis was murdered.
- That bleach? - Yeah, that smell is horrifying.
When we go into his house, what do we find? A commercial-grade mop bucket with fresh bleach water in it.
He knew he was a target of this investigation, and he had cleaned that area recently.
Coincidence, right? Okay, mark, hit the lights.
- Close that door.
- Close the door, please.
One of the tools we use is called bluestar forensic solution.
Bluestar is very similar to what people refer to as luminol.
You spray it in the area, and it detects the presence of blood.
Is it lighting up? Okay, I don't see anything right here.
Yeah, that was nice.
It lit up like a Christmas tree blue.
You know what? That means, "good night, son of a bitch", 'cause I got your ass.
" We're finally in Tommy Francise's kitchen looking for blood evidence for the murder of Cochise.
Lori starts to light up the kitchen with some luminol.
Right here on this corner.
It lights up blue.
- See that? - Yeah.
If it lights up blue Tells us there's blood there.
We decided to hone in on that area, take different pieces, decorative boards, molding at the bottom of the bar, some of the flooring itself, and have it sent off to be analyzed for forensic analysis.
If that blood is Cochise's blood, you can bet, about 30 minutes after that, we'll be going back to Tommy's with a warrant for his arrest.
What do we have here? All right, this is all the stuff from our search warrant.
Allegedly, our victim was shot in the home around, you know, where all this evidence was located.
So, it's just gonna be the way to present it to our district attorney that's gonna make the difference.
Thank you.
Tony Clayton is the special prosecutor in this parish.
If Tony doesn't have everything to prosecute Tommy Francise, then we have to go back to the drawing board.
That's why it's important for us to have some kind of blood or trace evidence, something to match Cochise, Curtis Smith.
Back in 1991, we have a man named Curtis Smith who was shot inside of this house.
We decided to spray with the luminol.
And, I mean, I have to tell you It was lighting up like crazy.
You use luminol to detect blood on any kind of crime scene.
But it's not 100%.
We have to send that off to a lab to make damn sure that it matches Cochise's blood.
So, what items are we submitting? We have two pieces of shoe molding, two cabinet doors, and we have a few swabs Like five swabs from the floor, and then that cutout piece of vinyl.
We would get a reactive area, photograph, and then remove the actual piece of wood so that maybe you guys could take the testing a little further.
Yeah, we do phenolphthalein.
It's a color-change test.
If we see a stain, we swab it.
We apply a chemical to it, wait a couple of seconds, apply another chemical.
If the swab changes color from the state that it's in to pink, that indicates a positive for blood.
The obstacles to overcome with this are pretty great.
This evidence is 20 years old.
- Yeah.
- That's an obstacle.
DNA degrades over time, even at ambient conditions, but this is worth a shot.
It's gonna take time to get the results back.
If we can find blood and DNA and match that to Cochise, Tommy's a cooked goose.
- We'll swab it - Okay.
You know, see what we can do, and we'll do a DNA analysis on it.
- Great.
- Let's get to work.
Don't hold his hand too long 'cause his blood pressure will go way up.
He falls in love real quick.
You know, I haven't been the healthiest man.
I want to solve these cases.
Believe me, I do.
But I want to live the rest of my life where I ain't got to spend it in a hospital.
We both had the same kidney removed.
Matter of fact, he's had cancer several times.
In a way, it's kind of brought me and him a little closer together.
My dad's 87 years old.
He's a tough old bird.
I guess the only thing keeps me strong is watching him battle the cancer the times he went through it and how strong of a man he was.
All right, so, what's going on with you? Just a lot of work, a lot of hours, but Deep breath.
The only thing that you can do about your kidney is make sure you don't overdo it, you don't put any extra pressure on that kidney.
Outside all day working is kind of an issue.
There's always a risk the cancer can come back.
There's always a risk it can grow somewhere else.
This case has been Just nerve-racking.
It takes a toll on you because you know you're this close.
Hey, guys, I just heard from the faces lab.
They got the DNA results back from the barrel.
We sent a tooth to the lab from the barrel that we found in natchitoches.
If that tooth comes back to Curtis Smith See your ass in Angola, Tommy Francise.
Mnh.
That's definitely not a match with this one, correct? Okay.
Mnh.
We appreciate your time.
Well, damn it.
There were so many similarities.
- Yeah, no.
- That's the jawbone.
Yep.
If that would have matched Cochise, Francise's ass would be in a jam today.
Man, am I frustrated that that body wasn't Cochise? Hell, yeah.
Disappointment that's the name of the game when you're working murders and cold cases.
If you can't handle that, pack your.
And go deliver mail or sell ice cream somewhere because You can't be a cop.
Since it's not him - We need to keep working.
- Yeah.
We got to find some evidence.
We got to find some more leads, some more people to talk to, interview, you know, and continue.
I thought we had his body, but now Tony Clayton's calling, and he wants some news.
And we got to find some evidence that we can use that we can hand to him "Here you go.
" We got his ass.
" 'Cause I ain't going down like this.
And neither are y'all.
Well, sheriff, the body up there in north Louisiana in that barrel? They did the DNA on the teeth.
Definitely not gonna be Cochise.
Tony Clayton ain't gonna be happy to hear about this.
I really never had a good feeling about that body because it was so far, - but it matched up so good.
- Yeah.
But I suggest to you we go back to Tommy Francise's words.
Let's go back to pigeon, retrace our steps, bring in the people that you need to bring in, whatever you got to do.
I don't think they'll let us drain the bayou, but anything short of that, I want you to exhaust all available resources.
All right.
We'll get on it.
You know, those smartphones You don't have to press the button that hard.
They're smart enough to detect your finger.
How smart is it? I've been wanting to ask somebody that question.
Get out.
Get out.
You can't throw me out the truck.
This is my truck.
I can do what I want.
He's kicking you out of his truck? They'll think you're a stray dog.
They'll think you're dying on your last leg, try to run over you and put you out your misery.
That ain't funny.
She's laughing! That's what I'm talking about 'cause I know I'm right! We appreciate y'all help.
What we're looking for is a metal, 55-gallon drum.
25 years later, who knows what's left of this barrel? But what we'd like to find is remnants of the barrel, some bones, anything we could find to link this guy to Curtis.
If that's not Cochise in that barrel, well, hopefully that barrel is still right here in bayou pigeon area.
And that's why we back here today.
If Tony in the district attorney's office doesn't have everything that we can possibly give him on this case to prosecute Tommy Francise, we're sunk.
We're gonna do every damn thing possible we can to find that barrel.
This may be our lucky day, and that's what we're praying for.
Yes, sir.
All right, Jason, we're moving.
If his story's good, we should be exactly lined up with where the barrel went down.
Back in the days when we searched bayou pigeon area right here where we're at, we didn't have nothing but $2, these eyes, and that muddy water.
Couldn't see your hand in front your face.
Today look what we got here Sonar, side scan, cameras.
Am I convinced we're gonna find something today? Damn right I am.
We'll be running the sonar all day, looking for targets.
The sonar is gonna make a two-dimensional picture of everything on the bottom and above bottom.
Okay.
It will not penetrate below bottom.
Obviously, if it's under the mud, how you guys are gonna find this? That's where the gradiometer comes into play and the magnetometer.
We'll penetrate the mud line probably about six to eight feet.
And every magnetic hit we get, the divers will investigate.
We should be able to pick up even smaller gun barrels and whatnot.
You see there's definitely something It's big.
Not quite sure exactly what it is.
I would like to send a diver down to go check it out.
Here's the camp right here.
Here's the south corner where he said he'd put it out.
So, we're looking at about 20 foot - in front of the boat here? - Correct.
Ready to start sweeping? He'll go five feet towards the channel and five feet towards the bank.
Roger.
All right.
Are you on it right now? You want to retrieve it? - A hoop net? - Yeah.
Hoop net, yeah.
Since this barrel was dumped in 1991 and we're trying to go find it now, we're betting on a long shot.
Based on what we're seeing here, there's nothing laying on the surface.
Nothing laying on the surface.
We can run the gradiometer, see if we pick up any magnetic targets.
You want to check below the surface now? Long as it's not too deep under the mud, we'll find it.
The gradiometer is some really good equipment.
It's basically an underwater metal detector.
One thing we know is the barrel's made out of metal and the gun's made out of metal.
So, either one of them down here, it should pick them up.
Every time it squeals, we follow the cable back and investigate that area.
- Okay, cool.
- All right.
All right.
Pulling.
- Coming up on something.
- Something there.
- Hey.
- Whoa! Right there.
Let's check that out.
It's right behind him.
All right.
What kind of metal? We have a .
22 rifle in evidence that belonged to Tommy Francise.
As things go, this may not be the weapon that killed Cochise, so there's a good possibility that that gun that killed Cochise is still floating around somewhere.
Hey, come to the ladder.
Give me what you found.
- Coming up on something.
- Something there.
- Hey.
- Whoa! Right there.
Let's check that out.
It's right behind him.
All right.
What kind of metal? Looks like the barrel of a gun.
Can he retrieve it? - Retrieve it? - Yes, please.
All right.
We want to bring it up.
All right.
Looks like a gun right there.
Hey, grab that from him.
Tubing.
Got a hole in it and everything.
You grab a hold of this underwater, you think you got your hands on a barrel.
Yeah.
This is the worst day I've had since I've restarted this case.
After today, with the technology I see we have out here, I was 100% sure we could find something.
We didn't find a barrel.
We didn't find Cochise.
We didn't find a gun.
We came up with zero.
What you think, rodie? I don't know.
Either the swamp swallowed it up That, or when he sat right there on that hill, he lied his frickin' ass off to us, one or the other.
If I was a betting man, I'm betting he's lying right now.
We're gonna put this dude in jail.
You know that, right? I'll believe that when I see it.
You're so pissy lately.
You're so down.
Think so? What? You want my advice? No.
I don't need your advice.
You asked, "what?" I-I just thought you had something to say.
- I don't need your advice.
- Well, I do.
I always have something to say.
Just shut up about it.
Yeah, you always do.
You're right.
I know how to fix it working out.
You need to start working out.
It releases happy endorphins.
That wifebeater boom! explode on you.
I need you to get happy.
Look Why do I have to be happy? I need you, like that song.
Who sang that song? Bonnie and Bonnie and who? Bonnie and Clyde? Bonnie and Cher sung it.
Sonny and Cher.
That's right.
Sonny and Cher.
See? I do need you.
- Let me tell you something, dude.
- Okay.
We're gonna make our arrest in this case.
Why didn't it happen before? I don't know why it didn't happen before.
Maybe the tide wasn't right.
Maybe it was too high.
Tide wasn't right? Yeah.
It's like fishing.
Sometimes the tide's up, and you're not gonna catch fish.
Hey, we gonna put this dude in jail.
It's gonna happen.
Get your cuffs ready.
Shine them up.
Mark my words.
I hope so, buddy.
Sheriff's office.
This is Lori.
- Hey, Lori.
- Hey, Myles.
From the Francise search warrant.
Yes.
Cabinet doors and wood molding.
We processed that area and submitted samples to a lab.
We're hoping, one, that it comes back as blood and, two, that it belongs to Curtis Smith.
Tony Clayton brings that piece of evidence into the court, the jury's gonna eat it up like a big steak.
Any good news on that? Man! No blood on any of it? Wow.
It's crazy because I'm looking at a picture that I took, and it's such a clear blue luminescence.
Any idea what the substance that illuminated was? One of the things that react whenever you spray luminol on it and shows that it's a possibility of blood is bleach.
It appeared to us that Tommy had freshly cleaned that area.
That's what was going on when it lit up blue.
There was bleach water present in the room.
You think that's what it was? I'm glad that we can at least know for sure that we haven't missed anything on that evidence.
- Thanks again.
- All right, Lori.
Well, it's bleach.
Not good.
If it wouldn't be for bad luck, we wouldn't have any luck.
Exactly.
False positive.
But why would that big-ass area be full of bleach? Especially since that's the only area of the house that was clean.
You make me a target in your investigation, I'm gonna clean my tracks, too.
He's not stupid.
He's smart.
- He's calculated.
- Right.
Another miserable-ass day in law enforcement.
Not Cochise's blood, no blood.
Just like they say in Louisiana, it's like a frickin' hurricane when you're working these cases.
But I'm gonna wait out that storm.
I'm not giving up.
Bring it on.
- We struck out with that, right? - Right.
We still got his statement of his own words telling rodie he killed him and how he did it.
We got witnesses that can corroborate exactly what Tommy Francise said he did.
We got a hell of a circumstantial case.
Yep.
All right.
It's time to get Tony Clayton on the phone.
We ain't finished.
Nope, by a long shot.
Until Tony tells us there's enough evidence to go get Tommy and indict him, there is no evidence against Tommy.
Hello.
Tony Clayton.
It's going good.
Look, we're working hard here.
But, look, the reason I'm calling you, Tony, is I'd like to come sit down and talk to you if at all possible and get your thoughts on the case dealing with Tommy Francise.
Anything you need from us, we're willing and will do.
Okay.
All right, well, let me get with the sheriff.
We can make that happen.
Tony, thank you, buddy.
Goodbye.
If he wasn't on board, he'd have put us off.
He trusts us.
He knows the team's there for him.
And I told him we'll be there for him.
- I'll tell you what, I'm pumped.
- Me too.
- I'm ready.
I can't wait.
- It's good.
Blue bubblegum, right? Clear bubblegum.
How many times I got to tell you that? Clear bubblegum.
- How y'all doing? - Hey, baby.
How are you? I need two snowballs.
Rodie wants some blue bubblegum, and I want something fruity.
I want clear bubblegum.
All right.
I'd like banana, please.
I tried to get him to eat something fruity.
He's too worried about his lips turning blue from the snowball.
You think he can get a discount with an aarp card? That's sweet.
Thank you, honey, so much.
You're welcome.
You have no color, and everything you got's artificial flavor.
- That's a matter of opinion.
- That's like an.
Everybody got one.
Bye, babe.
Well, Tony, man, we thank you for coming in.
All right.
I'm impressed with the work that you put together.
But I'm just like any prosecutor across this country.
- I would love to have a body.
- Right.
So let's talk about DNA.
I understand that we found a body in a barrel somewhere up in north Louisiana.
That's correct.
The DNA we got from that person was not a match.
The problem with this case simple confession, no body, is not enough.
It would be somewhat unprecedented if we go through with this case and Cochise pops up in Australia and we've charged a man with murder.
So, we have to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Cochise is dead.
How do you suspect we do that? I think we got a lot more work to do with it.
Tony, you got him personally telling you that he killed him.
You got all these witnesses and him telling these people the same thing.
How many he got to confess to before we can prosecute? Rodie, I hear you.
Look, I like the confession.
There are some little things in there, you can tell where he's not telling the truth.
There's a voice-analysis guy who I used in my last trial.
They study this kind of stuff.
So, set it up.
Let him evaluate that.
He's gonna come back and say, "he's lying here.
" He's telling you this.
This is when he shift.
" - What do you think? - Okay.
- I think it's a great idea.
- I love it.
We'll build a whole case around that confession and whether you believe it or not.
I think bringing in a voice-stress expert is a good idea.
We've got Tommy's confession.
Let's prove if he's lying or not.
Point I want to make is, I'm looking for corroboration with a jury.
- And Louisiana has a law - 404 In the evidence code Allows you to use other crimes or other bad conducts to show motive, opportunity, pattern.
If he gives a confession and we can corroborate any part of it, then we might be able to use that with the jury.
Well, if you're looking for a pattern, look at George Barrett.
So, what's the story with George Barrett again? Same M.
O Shot in the head twice, small-caliber .
22.
And he worked for Tommy.
And everybody we talked to point toward Tommy Francise.
We all believe that Tommy Francise is probably the one who murdered Cochise.
But if you really go out and talk to the people this time, that's not the only blood on Tommy Francise's hands.
I think the Barrett case is gonna be really strong.
We got a body.
- Was Barrett shot with a .
22? - Yep.
Yep.
Now, the team we've been pursuing Cochise's case for several reasons.
Number one, we have a confession.
Number two, we thought we had a body.
Tommy Francise he wasn't prosecuted for George's murder 'cause we don't have enough evidence to prosecute him yet.
But we're gonna find that evidence, too.
So, here, pattern.
We got an African-American male.
- Employees.
- Employees.
Crossing the boss.
I'm getting to feel you now, you know? - I'm right there.
- Here's the homework assignment.
Let's start looking at corroboration of other deals.
Then we can be onto something.
What we got to do is, we got to look for a motive.
We got to look for witnesses.
And start bringing them all in.
Let's move forward and take it to the next step.
- All right, guys.
- Thank you, Tony.
- Appreciate it.
- Thank you, sheriff.
Thank you.
I knew George a long time.
He was a good man.
George lost his life, and he was on my watch.
I received a phone call one night, and it was George.
And he said, "hey, I need to talk to you.
" I need you to meet me somewhere.
" We call them informers, confidential informers, C.
I.
S.
George was my key witness in putting away Tommy.
One year after Tommy took me to bayou pigeon, George Barrett was found shot in his home, in the head, with a .
22 rifle.
Say a prayer for the dying If you want to talk about pain and guilt Say a prayer for the lonely hearts I live it every day of my life.
'Cause there's evil among us So that's why this case means that much to me.
in flesh and bone You might be by yourself If I don't get him off the street, everything I've done But you're never alone Will amount to nothing.
So we wait and we pray - Wow.
- Goes that way, right? On your walk back to make sure.
I want to scan your abdomen and your pelvis.
You're falling apart.
Stop taking care of everybody else.
You want to take care of you.
I'm just scared, that's all.
And he told you that he killed Cochise and that he killed George Barrett? Pschew.
Hey, guys, I got some news from the FBI about the hairs on Eugenie's body.
If those hairs come back and if we get a hit on someone, that means I caught the no-good, raggedy son of a bitch took her life.
- There he is.
- Yeah, that's it.
That's him.
I'm on my way.
I'm on my way.
I got a visual! I got a visual!
They're gonna send it to a lab and hopefully get a positive profile that way.
Curtis Smith, nickname "Cochise.
" From day frickin' one, I knew the person that I think committed this homicide Tommy Francise.
The one kidney you have remaining has a couple spots on it.
We get concerned that it could possibly be a recurrence or a new kidney cancer.
That house is where Tommy said he killed Cochise.
Hey.
Warrants are signed.
I been dying for a long time to knock on that door and tell him, "hey, get your ass out the way" because here's your warrant.
"I'm coming in.
" You know, I've been after Tommy Francise for 25 years.
I finally got a warrant to search his house, the exact spot where Cochise is supposed to have been killed.
Hear the devil callin' Hear the devil callin' Tommy's a very dangerous person.
He's got a rap sheet probably a mile and half long.
He's never done hard time.
He think he's above the law.
I'm getting old.
My health is declining.
But you know what? If we find enough evidence this time, after 25 years, Cochise's family gets the answers they've been looking for all their life.
Tommy's long reign of trouble will come to an end.
This guy is a powder keg ready to blow, so be very careful when we hit this house.
I don't want anybody to get hurt doing this thing.
We pull in the driveway, he gonna be thinking, "they're coming to get me.
" He's not gonna think "search warrant.
" No, he's gonna be thinking "arrest warrant.
" I say we have to hit him early, catch him preferably when he's in bed, the least expected.
- Exactly.
- 'Cause you never know - what's expected.
- You can choose to execute a search warrant at any time you want.
We choose to execute Tommy's search warrant in the morning hours, the more likely you catch him in his sleep.
Sometimes, the element of surprise is the best weapon that we have.
You know, I spoke to Tony Clayton.
We're gonna try to find any weapons that could have been used during that time.
If we find a barrel, try to find a manufacturer name on it, some kind of identifying information.
Tony Clayton is our assistant district attorney.
He's our felony prosecutor.
Were we able to lift any DNA from her body? It's our job to find everything that Tony Clayton needs pertaining to Cochise's death.
We're looking for guns, a barrel, and we need blood in Tommy's house that belongs to Curtis.
Lori is gonna light this thing up to see if we can detect any traces of blood.
If there is blood there, it will illuminate blue.
I will swab it and then do the presumptive test for human blood.
If there was blood in that house, there's a chance we can get trace evidence that could link Curtis to being murdered in that house, and then this case is solved.
That's Tommy's.
That search warrant gives us permission to search any building or structure on that property.
So, that's a vast area we can search.
- All this is his? - Yep.
Holy.
That's a lot of vehicles to go through.
Pack a lunch.
This is Tommy's house, where the green "x" is marked.
Little Brett and Lori will cover the front-left corner.
Rodie, you got the back right.
Jeremy, you got the back left.
Me and mark will cover to the back.
We can get back to y'all in case stuff breaks loose.
Once we serve him the search warrant, and if he wants to escort us to the house, fine.
If not, we're going on our own, put him in a corner, put him in time-out, and you can clear the house.
I know we're not going in like S.
W.
A.
T.
, - but we're vesting up, right? - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I suggest y'all vest up.
Rodie, do you even own a bulletproof vest? I think I got one from world war ii.
- A flak jacket? - More like civil war.
"T" minus 15 minutes.
Jeremy, you got that search warrant? Yeah! The most unpredictable creature that walks this earth is a human being.
You never know what a human being is gonna do, and we've got to be vigilant.
Now that Tommy knows we're investigating him, it heightens the chance that we meet some resistance from him.
Our lives could be in jeopardy.
Dear lord, it means a lot for what we are trying to do This man to justice and getting some closure for the family.
Give us strength, give us clarity of mind, but keep us safe most of all.
In your heavenly name, we pray.
Amen.
Ready? I was born ready.
When we enter that door, clear the house.
Let's go.
Here we go.
Let's get this done.
Go! Go! Go! Green! Green! Green! Green! Sheriff's office.
No folks on the inside.
You and rodie check the outside area.
10-4.
Sheriff's office.
Clear.
Sheriff's office.
Clear.
- Clear? - Clear.
Let's go back here.
This room is clear, y'all.
Green! Green! Green! Green! Hey, get on the ground.
Get on the ground! - Get on the ground! - Get on the ground! Get on the ground! Tommy's not there.
Two people we do find on the property One, the woman Another one was one of his employees, goes back the name of J.
D.
When you do a search warrant, we secure the premises.
We secure the people make sure they're not a threat.
Then, you continue with the search of the property.
There's nothing in here.
That property is full of junk.
Looked like a salvage yard in his backyard.
Y'all checked that shed over there? Yes, that shed over there, too.
We have a .
22 rifle in evidence.
We had it checked out.
It's not the gun we're looking for.
- This is clear.
- Nothing? Nothing.
So, that gun There's a great possibility it's still in that damn house.
And the sad part of it all is we got to sift through all that to try to find that gun.
I don't see anything.
No barrels, no bodies, nothing? Holy.
Smell that yo.
I was shocked to see how that house was.
You know, he has a whole just bunch of junk.
So much stuff.
It's like you're going in a warehouse full of crates, freezers, and icebox, tools and But let me say this much From the looks of that home, he could have hid an elephant in there, and you wouldn't have found it.
Bingo.
"Bad girls.
" This room's clear.
This is clear.
- Office clear.
- Closet is clear.
We're looking both inside and out.
We even went through the crawl spaces - No gun, no nothing.
- Think that's it.
Lori Morgan, find me some blood.
We need to focus on the kitchen area to find bloodstains where we believe Curtis was murdered.
- That bleach? - Yeah, that smell is horrifying.
When we go into his house, what do we find? A commercial-grade mop bucket with fresh bleach water in it.
He knew he was a target of this investigation, and he had cleaned that area recently.
Coincidence, right? Okay, mark, hit the lights.
- Close that door.
- Close the door, please.
One of the tools we use is called bluestar forensic solution.
Bluestar is very similar to what people refer to as luminol.
You spray it in the area, and it detects the presence of blood.
Is it lighting up? Okay, I don't see anything right here.
Yeah, that was nice.
It lit up like a Christmas tree blue.
You know what? That means, "good night, son of a bitch", 'cause I got your ass.
" We're finally in Tommy Francise's kitchen looking for blood evidence for the murder of Cochise.
Lori starts to light up the kitchen with some luminol.
Right here on this corner.
It lights up blue.
- See that? - Yeah.
If it lights up blue Tells us there's blood there.
We decided to hone in on that area, take different pieces, decorative boards, molding at the bottom of the bar, some of the flooring itself, and have it sent off to be analyzed for forensic analysis.
If that blood is Cochise's blood, you can bet, about 30 minutes after that, we'll be going back to Tommy's with a warrant for his arrest.
What do we have here? All right, this is all the stuff from our search warrant.
Allegedly, our victim was shot in the home around, you know, where all this evidence was located.
So, it's just gonna be the way to present it to our district attorney that's gonna make the difference.
Thank you.
Tony Clayton is the special prosecutor in this parish.
If Tony doesn't have everything to prosecute Tommy Francise, then we have to go back to the drawing board.
That's why it's important for us to have some kind of blood or trace evidence, something to match Cochise, Curtis Smith.
Back in 1991, we have a man named Curtis Smith who was shot inside of this house.
We decided to spray with the luminol.
And, I mean, I have to tell you It was lighting up like crazy.
You use luminol to detect blood on any kind of crime scene.
But it's not 100%.
We have to send that off to a lab to make damn sure that it matches Cochise's blood.
So, what items are we submitting? We have two pieces of shoe molding, two cabinet doors, and we have a few swabs Like five swabs from the floor, and then that cutout piece of vinyl.
We would get a reactive area, photograph, and then remove the actual piece of wood so that maybe you guys could take the testing a little further.
Yeah, we do phenolphthalein.
It's a color-change test.
If we see a stain, we swab it.
We apply a chemical to it, wait a couple of seconds, apply another chemical.
If the swab changes color from the state that it's in to pink, that indicates a positive for blood.
The obstacles to overcome with this are pretty great.
This evidence is 20 years old.
- Yeah.
- That's an obstacle.
DNA degrades over time, even at ambient conditions, but this is worth a shot.
It's gonna take time to get the results back.
If we can find blood and DNA and match that to Cochise, Tommy's a cooked goose.
- We'll swab it - Okay.
You know, see what we can do, and we'll do a DNA analysis on it.
- Great.
- Let's get to work.
Don't hold his hand too long 'cause his blood pressure will go way up.
He falls in love real quick.
You know, I haven't been the healthiest man.
I want to solve these cases.
Believe me, I do.
But I want to live the rest of my life where I ain't got to spend it in a hospital.
We both had the same kidney removed.
Matter of fact, he's had cancer several times.
In a way, it's kind of brought me and him a little closer together.
My dad's 87 years old.
He's a tough old bird.
I guess the only thing keeps me strong is watching him battle the cancer the times he went through it and how strong of a man he was.
All right, so, what's going on with you? Just a lot of work, a lot of hours, but Deep breath.
The only thing that you can do about your kidney is make sure you don't overdo it, you don't put any extra pressure on that kidney.
Outside all day working is kind of an issue.
There's always a risk the cancer can come back.
There's always a risk it can grow somewhere else.
This case has been Just nerve-racking.
It takes a toll on you because you know you're this close.
Hey, guys, I just heard from the faces lab.
They got the DNA results back from the barrel.
We sent a tooth to the lab from the barrel that we found in natchitoches.
If that tooth comes back to Curtis Smith See your ass in Angola, Tommy Francise.
Mnh.
That's definitely not a match with this one, correct? Okay.
Mnh.
We appreciate your time.
Well, damn it.
There were so many similarities.
- Yeah, no.
- That's the jawbone.
Yep.
If that would have matched Cochise, Francise's ass would be in a jam today.
Man, am I frustrated that that body wasn't Cochise? Hell, yeah.
Disappointment that's the name of the game when you're working murders and cold cases.
If you can't handle that, pack your.
And go deliver mail or sell ice cream somewhere because You can't be a cop.
Since it's not him - We need to keep working.
- Yeah.
We got to find some evidence.
We got to find some more leads, some more people to talk to, interview, you know, and continue.
I thought we had his body, but now Tony Clayton's calling, and he wants some news.
And we got to find some evidence that we can use that we can hand to him "Here you go.
" We got his ass.
" 'Cause I ain't going down like this.
And neither are y'all.
Well, sheriff, the body up there in north Louisiana in that barrel? They did the DNA on the teeth.
Definitely not gonna be Cochise.
Tony Clayton ain't gonna be happy to hear about this.
I really never had a good feeling about that body because it was so far, - but it matched up so good.
- Yeah.
But I suggest to you we go back to Tommy Francise's words.
Let's go back to pigeon, retrace our steps, bring in the people that you need to bring in, whatever you got to do.
I don't think they'll let us drain the bayou, but anything short of that, I want you to exhaust all available resources.
All right.
We'll get on it.
You know, those smartphones You don't have to press the button that hard.
They're smart enough to detect your finger.
How smart is it? I've been wanting to ask somebody that question.
Get out.
Get out.
You can't throw me out the truck.
This is my truck.
I can do what I want.
He's kicking you out of his truck? They'll think you're a stray dog.
They'll think you're dying on your last leg, try to run over you and put you out your misery.
That ain't funny.
She's laughing! That's what I'm talking about 'cause I know I'm right! We appreciate y'all help.
What we're looking for is a metal, 55-gallon drum.
25 years later, who knows what's left of this barrel? But what we'd like to find is remnants of the barrel, some bones, anything we could find to link this guy to Curtis.
If that's not Cochise in that barrel, well, hopefully that barrel is still right here in bayou pigeon area.
And that's why we back here today.
If Tony in the district attorney's office doesn't have everything that we can possibly give him on this case to prosecute Tommy Francise, we're sunk.
We're gonna do every damn thing possible we can to find that barrel.
This may be our lucky day, and that's what we're praying for.
Yes, sir.
All right, Jason, we're moving.
If his story's good, we should be exactly lined up with where the barrel went down.
Back in the days when we searched bayou pigeon area right here where we're at, we didn't have nothing but $2, these eyes, and that muddy water.
Couldn't see your hand in front your face.
Today look what we got here Sonar, side scan, cameras.
Am I convinced we're gonna find something today? Damn right I am.
We'll be running the sonar all day, looking for targets.
The sonar is gonna make a two-dimensional picture of everything on the bottom and above bottom.
Okay.
It will not penetrate below bottom.
Obviously, if it's under the mud, how you guys are gonna find this? That's where the gradiometer comes into play and the magnetometer.
We'll penetrate the mud line probably about six to eight feet.
And every magnetic hit we get, the divers will investigate.
We should be able to pick up even smaller gun barrels and whatnot.
You see there's definitely something It's big.
Not quite sure exactly what it is.
I would like to send a diver down to go check it out.
Here's the camp right here.
Here's the south corner where he said he'd put it out.
So, we're looking at about 20 foot - in front of the boat here? - Correct.
Ready to start sweeping? He'll go five feet towards the channel and five feet towards the bank.
Roger.
All right.
Are you on it right now? You want to retrieve it? - A hoop net? - Yeah.
Hoop net, yeah.
Since this barrel was dumped in 1991 and we're trying to go find it now, we're betting on a long shot.
Based on what we're seeing here, there's nothing laying on the surface.
Nothing laying on the surface.
We can run the gradiometer, see if we pick up any magnetic targets.
You want to check below the surface now? Long as it's not too deep under the mud, we'll find it.
The gradiometer is some really good equipment.
It's basically an underwater metal detector.
One thing we know is the barrel's made out of metal and the gun's made out of metal.
So, either one of them down here, it should pick them up.
Every time it squeals, we follow the cable back and investigate that area.
- Okay, cool.
- All right.
All right.
Pulling.
- Coming up on something.
- Something there.
- Hey.
- Whoa! Right there.
Let's check that out.
It's right behind him.
All right.
What kind of metal? We have a .
22 rifle in evidence that belonged to Tommy Francise.
As things go, this may not be the weapon that killed Cochise, so there's a good possibility that that gun that killed Cochise is still floating around somewhere.
Hey, come to the ladder.
Give me what you found.
- Coming up on something.
- Something there.
- Hey.
- Whoa! Right there.
Let's check that out.
It's right behind him.
All right.
What kind of metal? Looks like the barrel of a gun.
Can he retrieve it? - Retrieve it? - Yes, please.
All right.
We want to bring it up.
All right.
Looks like a gun right there.
Hey, grab that from him.
Tubing.
Got a hole in it and everything.
You grab a hold of this underwater, you think you got your hands on a barrel.
Yeah.
This is the worst day I've had since I've restarted this case.
After today, with the technology I see we have out here, I was 100% sure we could find something.
We didn't find a barrel.
We didn't find Cochise.
We didn't find a gun.
We came up with zero.
What you think, rodie? I don't know.
Either the swamp swallowed it up That, or when he sat right there on that hill, he lied his frickin' ass off to us, one or the other.
If I was a betting man, I'm betting he's lying right now.
We're gonna put this dude in jail.
You know that, right? I'll believe that when I see it.
You're so pissy lately.
You're so down.
Think so? What? You want my advice? No.
I don't need your advice.
You asked, "what?" I-I just thought you had something to say.
- I don't need your advice.
- Well, I do.
I always have something to say.
Just shut up about it.
Yeah, you always do.
You're right.
I know how to fix it working out.
You need to start working out.
It releases happy endorphins.
That wifebeater boom! explode on you.
I need you to get happy.
Look Why do I have to be happy? I need you, like that song.
Who sang that song? Bonnie and Bonnie and who? Bonnie and Clyde? Bonnie and Cher sung it.
Sonny and Cher.
That's right.
Sonny and Cher.
See? I do need you.
- Let me tell you something, dude.
- Okay.
We're gonna make our arrest in this case.
Why didn't it happen before? I don't know why it didn't happen before.
Maybe the tide wasn't right.
Maybe it was too high.
Tide wasn't right? Yeah.
It's like fishing.
Sometimes the tide's up, and you're not gonna catch fish.
Hey, we gonna put this dude in jail.
It's gonna happen.
Get your cuffs ready.
Shine them up.
Mark my words.
I hope so, buddy.
Sheriff's office.
This is Lori.
- Hey, Lori.
- Hey, Myles.
From the Francise search warrant.
Yes.
Cabinet doors and wood molding.
We processed that area and submitted samples to a lab.
We're hoping, one, that it comes back as blood and, two, that it belongs to Curtis Smith.
Tony Clayton brings that piece of evidence into the court, the jury's gonna eat it up like a big steak.
Any good news on that? Man! No blood on any of it? Wow.
It's crazy because I'm looking at a picture that I took, and it's such a clear blue luminescence.
Any idea what the substance that illuminated was? One of the things that react whenever you spray luminol on it and shows that it's a possibility of blood is bleach.
It appeared to us that Tommy had freshly cleaned that area.
That's what was going on when it lit up blue.
There was bleach water present in the room.
You think that's what it was? I'm glad that we can at least know for sure that we haven't missed anything on that evidence.
- Thanks again.
- All right, Lori.
Well, it's bleach.
Not good.
If it wouldn't be for bad luck, we wouldn't have any luck.
Exactly.
False positive.
But why would that big-ass area be full of bleach? Especially since that's the only area of the house that was clean.
You make me a target in your investigation, I'm gonna clean my tracks, too.
He's not stupid.
He's smart.
- He's calculated.
- Right.
Another miserable-ass day in law enforcement.
Not Cochise's blood, no blood.
Just like they say in Louisiana, it's like a frickin' hurricane when you're working these cases.
But I'm gonna wait out that storm.
I'm not giving up.
Bring it on.
- We struck out with that, right? - Right.
We still got his statement of his own words telling rodie he killed him and how he did it.
We got witnesses that can corroborate exactly what Tommy Francise said he did.
We got a hell of a circumstantial case.
Yep.
All right.
It's time to get Tony Clayton on the phone.
We ain't finished.
Nope, by a long shot.
Until Tony tells us there's enough evidence to go get Tommy and indict him, there is no evidence against Tommy.
Hello.
Tony Clayton.
It's going good.
Look, we're working hard here.
But, look, the reason I'm calling you, Tony, is I'd like to come sit down and talk to you if at all possible and get your thoughts on the case dealing with Tommy Francise.
Anything you need from us, we're willing and will do.
Okay.
All right, well, let me get with the sheriff.
We can make that happen.
Tony, thank you, buddy.
Goodbye.
If he wasn't on board, he'd have put us off.
He trusts us.
He knows the team's there for him.
And I told him we'll be there for him.
- I'll tell you what, I'm pumped.
- Me too.
- I'm ready.
I can't wait.
- It's good.
Blue bubblegum, right? Clear bubblegum.
How many times I got to tell you that? Clear bubblegum.
- How y'all doing? - Hey, baby.
How are you? I need two snowballs.
Rodie wants some blue bubblegum, and I want something fruity.
I want clear bubblegum.
All right.
I'd like banana, please.
I tried to get him to eat something fruity.
He's too worried about his lips turning blue from the snowball.
You think he can get a discount with an aarp card? That's sweet.
Thank you, honey, so much.
You're welcome.
You have no color, and everything you got's artificial flavor.
- That's a matter of opinion.
- That's like an.
Everybody got one.
Bye, babe.
Well, Tony, man, we thank you for coming in.
All right.
I'm impressed with the work that you put together.
But I'm just like any prosecutor across this country.
- I would love to have a body.
- Right.
So let's talk about DNA.
I understand that we found a body in a barrel somewhere up in north Louisiana.
That's correct.
The DNA we got from that person was not a match.
The problem with this case simple confession, no body, is not enough.
It would be somewhat unprecedented if we go through with this case and Cochise pops up in Australia and we've charged a man with murder.
So, we have to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Cochise is dead.
How do you suspect we do that? I think we got a lot more work to do with it.
Tony, you got him personally telling you that he killed him.
You got all these witnesses and him telling these people the same thing.
How many he got to confess to before we can prosecute? Rodie, I hear you.
Look, I like the confession.
There are some little things in there, you can tell where he's not telling the truth.
There's a voice-analysis guy who I used in my last trial.
They study this kind of stuff.
So, set it up.
Let him evaluate that.
He's gonna come back and say, "he's lying here.
" He's telling you this.
This is when he shift.
" - What do you think? - Okay.
- I think it's a great idea.
- I love it.
We'll build a whole case around that confession and whether you believe it or not.
I think bringing in a voice-stress expert is a good idea.
We've got Tommy's confession.
Let's prove if he's lying or not.
Point I want to make is, I'm looking for corroboration with a jury.
- And Louisiana has a law - 404 In the evidence code Allows you to use other crimes or other bad conducts to show motive, opportunity, pattern.
If he gives a confession and we can corroborate any part of it, then we might be able to use that with the jury.
Well, if you're looking for a pattern, look at George Barrett.
So, what's the story with George Barrett again? Same M.
O Shot in the head twice, small-caliber .
22.
And he worked for Tommy.
And everybody we talked to point toward Tommy Francise.
We all believe that Tommy Francise is probably the one who murdered Cochise.
But if you really go out and talk to the people this time, that's not the only blood on Tommy Francise's hands.
I think the Barrett case is gonna be really strong.
We got a body.
- Was Barrett shot with a .
22? - Yep.
Yep.
Now, the team we've been pursuing Cochise's case for several reasons.
Number one, we have a confession.
Number two, we thought we had a body.
Tommy Francise he wasn't prosecuted for George's murder 'cause we don't have enough evidence to prosecute him yet.
But we're gonna find that evidence, too.
So, here, pattern.
We got an African-American male.
- Employees.
- Employees.
Crossing the boss.
I'm getting to feel you now, you know? - I'm right there.
- Here's the homework assignment.
Let's start looking at corroboration of other deals.
Then we can be onto something.
What we got to do is, we got to look for a motive.
We got to look for witnesses.
And start bringing them all in.
Let's move forward and take it to the next step.
- All right, guys.
- Thank you, Tony.
- Appreciate it.
- Thank you, sheriff.
Thank you.
I knew George a long time.
He was a good man.
George lost his life, and he was on my watch.
I received a phone call one night, and it was George.
And he said, "hey, I need to talk to you.
" I need you to meet me somewhere.
" We call them informers, confidential informers, C.
I.
S.
George was my key witness in putting away Tommy.
One year after Tommy took me to bayou pigeon, George Barrett was found shot in his home, in the head, with a .
22 rifle.
Say a prayer for the dying If you want to talk about pain and guilt Say a prayer for the lonely hearts I live it every day of my life.
'Cause there's evil among us So that's why this case means that much to me.
in flesh and bone You might be by yourself If I don't get him off the street, everything I've done But you're never alone Will amount to nothing.
So we wait and we pray - Wow.
- Goes that way, right? On your walk back to make sure.
I want to scan your abdomen and your pelvis.
You're falling apart.
Stop taking care of everybody else.
You want to take care of you.
I'm just scared, that's all.
And he told you that he killed Cochise and that he killed George Barrett? Pschew.
Hey, guys, I got some news from the FBI about the hairs on Eugenie's body.
If those hairs come back and if we get a hit on someone, that means I caught the no-good, raggedy son of a bitch took her life.
- There he is.
- Yeah, that's it.
That's him.
I'm on my way.
I'm on my way.
I got a visual! I got a visual!