Killing Fields (2016) s02e06 Episode Script

1 You got all these witnesses and him telling these people the same thing.
People are scared of Tommy, frightened of him.
When Tommy puts the fear in people, it's all over.
You don't put any extra pressure on that kidney.
Make sure you don't overdo it.
Outside all day working is kind of an issue.
We get in the house.
We light it up with luminol.
- Let's go.
- Sheriff's office.
- We find blood.
- That's it.
It lit up like a Christmas tree blue.
Man! This is the worst day I've had since I've restarted this case.
Well, Tony, man, we thank you for coming in.
I'm looking for motive, opportunity, pattern.
Well, if you're looking for a pattern, look at George Barrett.
Mother don't cry for me I done chose the life I lead Yes, you taught me right from wrong I have a lot of sleepless nights.
But now I sing the devil's song Think it's kind of messing with my health a little bit.
You want to talk about pain and guilt That spells "Rodie" 'cause I'm all the above.
George Barrett is why.
George knew what happened to Cochise.
And George was my key witness in putting away Tommy.
George Barrett was found shot in his home in the head with a .
22 rifle.
Tommy might have killed George, but I'm the one responsible for his death.
It was me alone who chose George's blood is on my hands.
A life of sin So, how's your kidney doing? You prayin' for me? Everybody prays for Rodie.
- Not just me.
- I know everybody do, but are you praying for me? Yes, I pray for you.
You prayin' for me? I didn't pray for you last night, but, I mean You didn't pray about me last night 'cause you were pissed off at me.
Maybe you prayed for me the night before 'cause you love me.
God.
Dear lord, give me strength.
All right, enough foolin'.
Time to go to work.
Everybody's up to date on what we're gonna do, right? After speaking to Clayton, George Barrett is next.
That's the case we're hitting hard.
Tomorrow morning, we're having that meeting with that voice analyst Tony Clayton asked us to check into.
After meeting with our assistant district attorney, Tony Clayton, he wanted us to show patterns of how Tommy Francise operated.
I'm looking for motive, opportunity, pattern, not to show the guilt or innocence of a guy.
So if he gives a confession and we can corroborate any part of it, then we might be able to use that with the jury.
Whether it's crimes of violence, certain types of weapon they use, there's a lot of similarities that come into play when it comes to Curtis Smith and George Barrett.
One similarity in particular They both were killed with a .
22 caliber firearm.
Second similarity They both worked for Tommy Francise.
George Barrett lived right here in plaquemine.
Found dead in his home Shot twice in the head.
There was no fingerprints to be found in his residence.
The only thing they was able to come up with was a couple of .
22 cases.
We got to look for witnesses that can put him there.
We got to look for a motive.
I got a pretty good idea of motive.
Maybe you remember a little bit, too.
George Barrett was an informant of mine on Tommy.
And I've told George when he started, "keep your mouth closed.
" And he looked at me, and he said, "man, really?" I'll tell you quote, unquote what he said to me.
He said, Tommy Francise.
"I ain't scared of him.
" So, later, a friend of mine approached me and told me that George Barrett and Tommy almost got into a fist city out here in the parking lot.
They was cussin' each other.
And Tommy pushed him, and he pushed Tommy back.
Three days later, I get a call.
They tell, "Rodie, George Barrett" We just found him dead.
He's shot behind the head.
" Was he ever questioned about that? Yeah, he was brought in with George Barrett, of course.
What girlfriend was that at the time? Melina.
Melina fits the case of every other woman I know Tommy was with.
Tommy was like the almighty savior to all of them at first.
And then, he turned into Godzilla.
Back in the day, she provided an alibi for Tommy in George Barrett's case, which puts that at a dead end.
I think we can interview her and get some good information out of her.
- I think that's a good idea.
- Yeah, that's good.
We can start putting together a witness list.
We're also gonna bring in crime stoppers.
I want to put him in the media.
Get George out there.
Let people see who George is.
They might look at that on the news and say, "you know what?" I remember George, and I remember him having "a problem with a certain person.
" We might get that phone call.
Crime stoppers does news pieces on the victim's family.
It helps law enforcement to put up a reward for anyone having any knowledge that can help in solving that crime.
And we'll go grab Melina.
She's right here.
She's a phone call away.
We've been investigating Tommy long enough.
It's time for him to pay the Piper.
Melina.
Hey, Ronnie Hebert.
Good.
Where the hell you at? Man, I need to talk to you.
I need you to come see me.
Okay, what time you gonna get off? So, when can you come see me? What day can I talk to you? It ain't gonna take long.
I need to follow up on a few couple things.
All right, how about this, then? You say you don't want to come talk? How about this? You don't She hung up on me.
Now she done pissed me off.
We need to go find her ass.
That gal is frightened to death.
Pissing me off.
You know, the hardest part of working these cases is not questioning people and trying to find the evidence to convict them and put them away.
One of the hardest things in any murder case is having to go meet the victim's families.
George's family I want to let them know we're gonna re-open this case.
I want the family's cooperation to help me with crime stoppers.
And I know crime stoppers is gonna have to interview the family.
Hi, don.
Rodie Sanchez.
You remember me, brother? - Yeah, how you doing? - Fine.
I'd like to speak to you.
Your family is here? - Yeah, yeah.
- I kind of want to talk - to all of y'all if I can.
- Hey.
- Come out here.
- Thank you, sir.
Donovan, this I guess I got some good news, I hope, for y'all.
I know it's been a long time.
But I want to re-open your dad's case.
I want to show y'all.
This is what I'm gonna start putting out around town.
Here's this.
Y'all gonna probably start hearing a lot of stuff 'cause we're gonna start knocking on some more doors.
We're gonna start doing some more interviewing.
Why it take this long? Well, I opened this case a long time ago, Donovan.
Just like Cochise, we think we know who murdered your dad, and we think we have enough evidence maybe to put him away this time.
My daddy told me.
This man say he's gonna do it.
- What he told you? - He say, "Tommy Francise said he gonna kill me.
" So, the night your dad died, you knew who did it automatically.
- I knew automatically.
- Nobody else was in your mind? I ain't had to second-guess I know what happened.
It's up around here.
I feel with you, Donovan.
I do.
Believe me, I do, buddy.
He killed my daddy.
I agree.
So, what, you can just go around and be killing and get away with it? But if happened to your family, what are you gonna do then? We're talking about a life my daddy's life.
I promise, Donovan, that I'll do everything I can to try to get it done.
Look at that.
I know you got a lot of anger, Donovan.
And I know you got a lot towards me, and I accept that, you know? Hey, I got big shoulders, buddy.
I'm gonna take that.
Let's keep pushing.
Let's keep driving.
This time, we can put a closure and put his rotten ass away.
We're preparing the case to take forth to the district attorney's office and show Tony Clayton to get his approval.
He made a couple recommendations.
One, we need to be able to tie Barrett's murder back to how Curtis was murdered.
Two, we need to take Tommy's confession and get it analyzed by a voice-stress expert.
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.
" If goes into the court and can be qualified as an expert, his opinion counts.
My opinion he's gonna tell us.
"I've listened to this, and there's no doubt about it that he's telling the truth.
" You just got to take care of you.
Stop taking care of everybody else.
You got to take care of you.
This work has gotten to you.
You know, the last thing I need right now is for my body to be breaking down, but here I am.
And I haven't been feeling good, and my kidney doctor, he said he preferred me coming in and running some more scans to check my kidney out more.
Everything's gonna be okay, babe.
I know.
I still worry.
I know y'all do it.
I do, too.
I just don't show it that much, but I'm just scared.
That's all.
I mean, I got one kidney left because cancer came for me, and, I mean, it's not functioning too good, either.
And my poor wife It tears her up.
I don't want her to have to worry about my health when she worries so much about me and my job.
- Come on in.
- Come right on in here.
- How you doing, sir? - Doing just fine.
Mr.
Sanchez, we gonna lay on down with your head on the pillow, feet down here.
Okay.
Put your legs on that little cushion there.
It'll help you back up a little bit.
All right.
How's that? I'm just gonna raise you up a little bit here.
Yes, sir.
It was the left side The left kidney that you had removed? - Yes, sir.
- Okay.
You know, when you're sitting in that machine going back and forth, the machine's going around and around, and the only thing you can do is wait and think and think and worry.
I think about a lot of things I've done in my life.
I've made a lot of mistakes along the way.
George Barrett's murder I wonder what I could have done.
Breathe in and hold your breath.
Working these murder cases and cancer is almost the same sickness.
They'll haunt you and eat you up inside.
You worry about having cancer, but you worry about solving a murder case, too.
- Hey, Brett.
- Hi, guys.
- How's it going? - Hey, Brett.
- Ronnie Hebert.
- Hi.
- Ronnie.
- How you doing, sir? - Lori Morgan.
- Nice meeting you.
- Aubrey St.
Angelo.
- All right.
Right now, we're gonna meet with a voice-stress expert, and we're gonna have him analyze.
Tommy's confession that he gave in 2001 to rodie.
We're gonna let him analyze whether or not Tommy is telling us the truth or telling us any lies.
So, let me explain how this works a little bit.
It's a lot like polygraph, but we're working off a recording.
As humans, we speak on a certain frequency level.
When we're trying to answer questions that are stress-related, the frequencies kind of fluctuate a little bit, and we can actually identify that little bit of deviation in the frequency.
And with that, we know whether or not they were trying to be deceptive.
So you're looking at the truth It goes up, comes right back down.
But if you want to lie about it, the flatter it gets on the top, the more stress we've got.
It's all a matter of they either know the answer or they had to create the answer.
And I can kind of break it apart here and show you what we came up with.
That's a huge question right there.
So, well, let's find out our answer here.
Here's our gap.
It goes up, comes right back down.
- That is a truthful answer.
- Boom.
It's confirming the shoot.
I don't know that I, in 20 years, had somebody that was that casual in their explanation.
- This is good stuff here, Brett.
- Yeah, it's interesting.
I'd like to see if you could pull out the one about pushing him in the water.
Okay.
You're close.
You're in the same vicinity.
Can you do that, bayou pigeon.
A direct answer right there can you do that? - He's lying about bayou pigeon.
- Yes, sir.
- It puts him somewhere else.
- So we can eliminate that.
Bayou pigeon.
And that, right there, all by itself, it goes up, it blocks over.
I'm inclined to believe it's not bayou pigeon.
- Holy - so, say again? - You said - This right here.
See how it's flattening out? It's not a logical answer.
- He's having to think about it.
- He had to think about it.
And that creates that little bit of a stress response.
That's good.
Now that the voice-stress expert has analyzed Tommy's statement, one thing we know is he didn't dump the body behind the family's camp.
But he was telling the truth about actually shooting Curtis.
He lied about where he put him at, - but he admits to doing it.
- Tell you what Most attorneys say this, but I'll see you in court.
We thank you for coming.
The more evidence we can bring forth increases our chances of getting an indictment.
- Yeah.
- We were hoping, if we could add this on crime stoppers that somebody out there is gonna be able to give the Barrett family and the Smith family closure and get some justice for these people.
I truly believe that somebody out there is gonna make that phone call.
Well, that's where crime stoppers can come in.
From here, we talk with the families.
There's that emotional connection.
People sitting at home, they can understand that.
And make a connection with them.
Exactly.
That's what we're gonna go do.
We'll make it happen.
Crime stoppers is a piece that they do on the local news channel in our area.
It's important to let people see what type of pain these families are suffering.
It shows them that these are real people and they need real help from the community.
This is the house.
Long time coming for these folks.
I know, brother.
People always ask me, "sheriff, y'all gonna solve that case?" We want to solve every case.
When you talk about a cold case, you're already behind the 8 ball Way behind the 8 ball.
- Hey, Matt.
- Good to see you.
- How you doing? - I'm good.
But the Smith family and the George Barrett family deserve to have their cases looked into.
That's why we're here today.
It's been a while? Yeah.
My daddy, he was the kind of man I mean, he would help anybody by all means possible.
You have people, when things like this happen, they won't say anything, but, on the other hand, but if the shoe was - on the other foot - Right, right.
They would want you to say something.
We don't want their family members to suffer any longer than they have to.
They already suffered two decades, and they haven't forgotten.
And we don't want them to be forgotten.
Cochise is a person.
He was a person.
He was a human being.
He had he got a family.
He got a son.
Please, if y'all know anything, please, y'all, just come forward.
You can't do nothing on a crime unless you have the community with you.
They live out there.
They know what goes on in their community.
I think there's several people that knows about Cochise's case and George Barrett's.
And I think they're still scared to come forward.
We have to get involved with them to solve this case.
They can help us, and we can help them.
When you look at these two cases, I know you see some eerie, eerie similarities that have you thinking that we're looking at one person here.
No doubt.
I have no doubt in my mind.
I am 1 million percent convinced.
There's one person responsible for these two crimes, and it's time to pay the Piper.
That's where I was born and raised, right there.
Lord, that's where it all started? Right there, right there under them big trees.
Well, if you could change anything, what would you change? I would change a couple marriages, like number two and number five.
No, seriously.
That's all you would change? If you do it all over again, you'd only change two wives? I mean, let me tell you I would have a lot more money in my pocket, and I'd be a lot better off.
Would you ever take back that promise you made to Eugenie's mother on finding her killer? Yeah.
Yeah.
That's the first time I ever done that.
Definitely, a detective shouldn't ever make promises like that, but But I still want to fulfill the job.
The promise is what bothers me because I'd like to fulfill it.
I still hope and pray I'm gonna do that.
Ever since we started Tommy's case, there's not a day don't go by and I still think about Eugenie.
Eugenie Boisfontaine, she was last seen alive in 1997.
Her body was found in Iberville parish.
She's waiting on me, poor darling, to make good on my promise I made to her to find her killer.
The sad part of it all is I feel like I'm not doing her justice while I'm working on Tommy Francise's case.
That makes me hate his ragged ass even more.
How many bullets can this guy keep dodging? - That's it.
- He's like "the matrix.
" You just need one small break.
Hey, guys, I got some news from the FBI about the hairs on Eugenie's body.
- Major.
- Hey.
Working the Eugenie case.
We've got to find something.
We have some slides with hair on them.
The hair has never been identified.
Those hairs could be re-tested.
If those hairs come back to be Eugenie's ex-husband, that means I caught the raggedy son of a bitch.
Everything you need to know is on the very bottom.
"The mitochondrial DNA testing performed on Eugenie Boisfontaine" "Eugenie Boisfontaine cannot be excluded as the source of item.
" They're her hairs.
- Wow.
- Damn.
Well We can't get a freakin' break, man.
I mean, look, just when you think you got a little something happening brick wall.
- At least that door is closed.
- It's a door closed, but it doesn't help us.
Something got to go right one day.
Well, still dig, dig, dig, but in the meantime let's focus our energy on Tommy Francise.
I think the good lord above says when you can do something and when you can't.
I think Cochise, George Barrett is trying to talk to me now, too.
They're saying, "it's time to put Tommy away.
" When this Tommy ball start rolling, we better hold on for the ride.
It's gonna be another roller coaster.
Y'all ready? - We're ready.
- We're ready.
We'll try to get in touch with Melina again.
Yeah, she's been ducking us all day.
I dealt with Melina years ago on Tommy's case.
Melina was one of Tommy's live-in girlfriends, one of the many.
She knows a hell of a lot about George Barrett's murder.
And she heard that we're re-opening this case.
Melina's been running from me like a chicken in a hen house.
Melina, where the you at? Why you hung up on Ronnie? Bull.
Where are you at? Listen to me.
Slow down and listen to me.
Whoa! Shut up.
Listen.
Your ass is coming back here.
Somebody gonna tell the truth of what the happened.
I'm tired of this running and hiding.
I'm talking about a man who lost his life, a murder.
I care what happened to George Barrett.
I'll come and get your ass Monday morning, and you better be ready to talk.
You make it easier on your self.
I'm you.
I'm gonna pick up a man.
Well, he just killed somebody.
And you know he killed somebody.
What was said that night when Tommy Francise got in that car when you picked him up? Rodie, where's Ronnie? I just went and looked for him.
I don't know where he went.
All right.
Melina knows the truth about George Barrett's case, and she's been knowing it for 15 years.
Melina claims that she was with Tommy the night of the murder.
Morning, Melina.
Where you been? Melina's lied to me.
I know that.
So, hopefully now she's ready to talk.
Melina, you know, there comes a point in time in life where - This is a life lesson.
- You have to be responsible.
You understand what I'm saying? This is not an investigation of a theft or burglary, you know? Somebody died.
Not one person two people died.
You, for a long period of time in your life, relied on Tommy Francise for support, right? He paid the bills for you, right? - Right.
- He gave you some cash, right? - Yeah.
- You had to do some.
For him, too, right? I'm not stupid.
All right.
He don't give a flying about you.
We're just getting started? What I want to know is what happened the night George Barrett was killed.
He will throw your ass under a bus.
You understand that? I just want the truth.
That's the only thing I'm asking just the truth.
Come on.
Talk.
Where? "I don't remember," right? Yeah.
That's pretty significant.
Well, he just killed somebody.
And you know he killed somebody.
"And, you know, I just can't remember what we did.
" Bull.
She's lying.
You know what you do next? Walk in there with a piece of paper and be like, "this is a warrant.
" I'm fixing to write it up.
"Now, you better finish telling me the truth.
" And say, "you know what?" I'm tired of hearing that.
Just thought I'd let you know I wasn't with you.
I got a warrant.
All I got to do is execute it, and you're gonna sit in jail charged with a principal to or accessory after the fact to murder.
I can go lock you up right now.
Right now.
All I got to do is get the judge's signature.
It's waiting to be signed.
Listen to me.
I'm you.
I'm gonna pick up a man who called me and said, "pick me up at the lion's club.
" I go to the lion's club.
He gets in the car with me, tells me, "man, I killed George Barrett.
" That's pretty damn significant in my life.
There's nothing that could ever erase that out my mind.
So I want you to go back to that night and think what was said that night when Tommy Francise got in that car when you picked him up at that lion's club.
Bingo.
Tommy told her he unscrewed a light bulb and waited for him to come in.
The only person who knew about that light bulb other than the cops was the murderer.
I know she's telling the damn truth.
That's the best news I've heard the whole time I've been investigating this case.
- He told me this bunch after.
- He'd been watching him.
Yeah? I'm gonna step out here.
I'll be right back.
I think she knows things that nobody can know unless you are told by Tommy Francise.
Everything is just mounting up against Tommy.
What Melina's telling us, we need to corroborate.
I remember reading in the autopsy report that there was an entry wound both to the left and the right side of the temple.
I'd like to see from the bedroom to see if that shot would line up as we walked in.
That's exactly right.
See where it would hit the body, where - Exactly.
- Let's go to the house - and corroborate the information.
- We're going to the house.
Melina comes in, and she gives us a lot of information, a lot of fine details.
But Melina can't be described as the ideal witness.
She's no den mother, okay? We need to take her information, corroborate it, head out back to the crime scene, and understand how this all unfolded.
It's gonna be crazy to go in here.
George's house has been empty since George's death, and this house is pretty much just like we left it the day he died.
Wow.
It seems like it just happened yesterday.
I remember everything that night.
I remember seeing my friend laying here with a bullet in his head.
You know, you wonder why I don't sleep at night? - It's not a big room.
- No.
So y'all think he was in that corner right there? I think he was in that corner waiting.
If he walks in here, he gets shot in the right side, right? - His body crumbles - Falls just like - and then - Yeah, like that.
Exactly.
After viewing the crime scene, we was able to match Melina's information to George's crime scene and the layout of the house.
What angle would he have had to stand over him for that round to eject? I'd say here.
Pow.
It was that way, right? Melina's never been to George's house.
So the only way she could tell us details about George's house is if she got it from Tommy.
He comes in Pow goes that way, right? And you walk back to make sure.
Pow got over him.
That means she got the information out the horse's mouth, Tommy Francise himself.
Based on the place that we can put our shooter What Melina told us makes sense.
- Everything fits.
- Right.
You got your gun? - On me? No.
- Yeah.
Hope we don't get in a shootout then.
When's the last time you shot your gun? I shot my gun about a week or so ago.
Well, you need to stay sharp with your weapon.
I am sharp.
How's your gun-gun shoot? My gun shoots fine! Your gun-gun? I'm 60-something years old.
I shoot straight as an arrow.
That thing don't come off the shelf.
Every shot pow, pow, pow, pow! Shut up! I got this image of it in my head, - and it's grossing me out.
- I hope you do.
You're gonna miss me when I'm gone.
But I'm gonna call you.
I'm gonna call you 'cause I know you're gonna be - lonely and upset.
- I'm changing my number.
I'll see you this evening, okay? - All right.
Bye.
- Thank you, Arlene.
- Bye.
- Bye-bye.
That was Arlene.
She said she saw the crime stoppers video, and she wants to come in and talk about George Barrett.
Arlene's relationship with Tommy is very, very important.
Tommy was closer to Arlene than anyone at one time.
I think she knows a lot about George Barrett and Cochise's murder.
So when she talks, you better listen.
- Hey, Ms.
Arlene.
- Hey.
Arlene, how are you? Well, look, we certainly thank you for coming.
Why are you here? Tell us why you're here.
Right.
Do you feel everything that Tommy told you was truthful? He trusted you only? All right.
What he said? When you say "the first murder" Cochise.
Okay.
I don't know if that's the truth or not, but that's a new one.
Never heard that before.
How did you know that George was involved in the murder of Cochise? Because who told you? - Tommy told you? - What'd he say? 'Cause Tommy told her.
Arlene says that George Barrett helped Tommy Francise dispose of Curtis' body.
That tells you a lot right there.
Tommy might have been trying to get rid of witnesses.
- Glad she came in.
- Right.
And he told you - Specifically.
- That he killed Cochise and that he killed George Barrett.
That's it.
That's all we need.
We're here.
We're gonna protect you.
And we're going after his ass.
As of right now, we have two witnesses that can tell us George Barrett was murdered by Tommy Francise.
And now we can tell that Curtis is connected.
Not only do we have potential motive, but we also have a pattern.
It's time to call Tony Clayton and see if we can get an arrest warrant.
Hey, Tony.
Ronnie Hebert in Iberville.
When you get this message, give me a call back, please.
I got some information I want to share with you.
We got enough to put Tommy Francise's ass away forever.
You'll issue a warrant for his arrest and take his feet off the ground.
- Thank you, my brother.
- Good job, brother.
- Good job.
- Thank you.
I say we start pinging his phone.
Let's find out where his ass is at right now.
I need the exact location of his cellular device.
Got one.
Probably gonna be home a little late tonight, all right? Really late.
You'll be sleeping.
He's not far not far at all.
Haul ass, Aubrey.
That's it.
That's him.
We're going into some dangerous business.
Things could go bad at any moment for us.
All these years, I've dreamed of this day.
Tonight, Tommy Francise will sleep in a bedroom with bars around him.
I got a visual! I got a visual! There he is! He's moving to the front! Coming in! Coming in! Coming in! Can't run no more.
We got you.
Coming to the door! - Come on, Tommy! Get out! - Tommy, get out the truck! Get out the truck and get down!