Killing Fields (2016) s02e07 Episode Script
The Takedown
1 1991, he come up missing here.
Here's another one of Rodie's cold cases that drove me crazy.
Curtis Smith, nickname "Cochise.
" From day freaking one, I could just feel it in my gut who did it Tommy Francise.
But if you really go out and talk to the people of this town, that's not the only blood on Tommy Francise's hands.
Well, if you're looking for a pattern, look at George Barrett.
He's another Tommy Francise employee who turned up dead.
If I don't get him off the street, everything I've done don't amount to nothing.
He told you that he killed Cochise and that he killed George Barrett.
And you shot him.
There's our "right.
" We're up.
We're down.
He's confirming the shoot.
We have to convince a jury, beyond a reasonable doubt.
We got enough to put Tommy Francise's ass away forever.
Maybe I was wrong Maybe I was right Maybe is the difference Between death and life Today is the day.
Everything we worked on way back and including now is coming to an end.
Finally, after all this time, we present our case against Tommy Francise.
His days of breathing fresh air and walking the streets of plaquemine is fixing to come to an end.
28 years Finally, a little justice may be served.
I can feel it.
We have a strong case against Tommy Francise.
The only thing we lack is some physical evidence.
But what we have is a very good circumstantial case.
We're gonna present the case we have against Tommy to the district attorney.
The district attorney could reject the information we're giving, tell us we need some more evidence.
So with the evidence we've gathered so far with Melina's statement Arlene's statement and that he killed George Barrett.
And the voice-stress expert - And you shot at him? - Right.
- That is a truthful answer.
- Boom.
And to have that put together and bring it to Tony Clayton, I want it to be airtight so we can put this guy away.
Pretty much, right now, it's all on the line.
Man, I sure do miss doing two-a-days.
"Two-a-day" what? Going to the bathroom twice a day or something? - What are you talking about? - No.
Hitting the gym twice a day.
I'm not talking about a bowel movement.
- What you trying to do? - Dude, I used to be a lot more jacked than what I am.
These cases just hold me down.
You work out twice a day? Is that what you're saying? - Right.
- I used to do that, too.
I used to lift two glasses of crown every night.
That's why your wife left you.
Big day today.
You got to present the case.
You ready? It's been a tough road working all of that up and making it flow.
You had 25 years of information that we had to link together.
Right.
Every interview, every statement It was a beast to put that together.
But you got it.
Once we present it to the district attorney, they gonna look at it and they gonna appreciate it and go forth with it is where I feel like we're going.
I pray.
I pray that warrant gets signed.
I've been waiting for this a long time.
A long time.
Tony, sheriff, we wanted y'all to take a look at the presentation we put together with the evidence that we compiled.
I think y'all will be impressed with it.
Hopefully we can bring it to a grand jury and get an indictment on Tommy.
Today is the day.
We get shot down on the day, I don't know what else we can do or what else we can give him to make this case any better than what we got.
Our victims are obviously gonna be Curtis Smith, "Cochise," followed by George Barrett in 2002.
A list of witnesses in the early '90s consisted of 15 individuals brought in.
We have these recordings to this date.
We can give you the 32 witnesses that we brought in to this date that we have video and audio recordings giving us information stating that Tommy Francise did, in fact, murder Curtis Smith and George Barrett and how he did it.
I have all the faith in the world in Tony Clayton.
Do I have it in the justice system? Hell no.
I pray this time that I can believe in them.
But I damn sure ain't holding my breath 'cause I've been through this before.
- Let me ask you this question.
- Yes, sir.
The statement that Tommy Francise gave We have 10 people that we can come forth and corroborate everything Tommy said in his statement in 2001.
Did the witnesses who gave these statements Were they privy to the statement - that he had given y'all? - No, sir.
And did their statements corroborate the same facts that Tommy confessed to? Yes, sir.
We can put this case together around those details.
Did they all say .
22-caliber rifle? .
22-caliber firearm.
- Body in a barrel? - Body in a barrel.
Body dumped in a body of water? Body submerged in water.
- Was shot in the head? - Yes, sir.
I'm satisfied.
What you men have put together is a strong circumstantial case with direct evidence.
And when you have circumstantial evidence intertwined with direct evidence, the burden of proof is beyond reasonable doubt.
And there's no doubt in this prosecutor's mind that Mr.
Tommy Francise committed both of these murders.
The type of weapon, all of the people that he confessed to It's amazing to me that this man has escaped justice for this long.
I think you should go issue a warrant for his arrest and take his feet off the ground.
- Yes, sir.
- What we wanted to hear.
I don't think I've had a better day than this in the last 20 years of my life.
I've been waiting to hear them words sing to me for so long it's unbelievable.
- Thank you, my brother.
- Good job, brother.
- Good job.
- Thank you.
- Good job, Rodie.
- Let's go get him.
- Double indictment.
- Double indictment.
Boom! That's good.
Yes, sir.
And get that warrant typed on Francise.
I'm all over it.
We're charging Tommy Francise with two counts of second-degree murder Intentional killing or taking the life of a human being when it's not pre-meditated or planned.
It's punishable by life in prison.
We're gonna rain fire and hell on his ass.
In order to get an arrest warrant, you put the information into the body of the warrant with the facts that can put forth enough probable cause for the judge to read and sign off on to bring that person to justice.
Send it.
Almost got him after 25 years, but I don't have him yet.
I'll be fulfilled when I hear them cuffs "click, click" on his wrists.
Whether we have to use deadly force or whether we can do it peacefully, that's up to Tommy.
We're gonna traffic-stop him.
He's not gonna move an inch after that 'cause we're gonna swarm him.
He's moving east.
He's heading our way.
He's eastbound, man.
We need to make a move.
Karma is a bitch, and she's hitting hard today.
Yeah.
Whoa, he might stop.
Damn.
He got a call, and somebody tipped his ass off.
This is too much, man.
If Tommy's on the run, he's more dangerous than when he is walking the streets of Iberville parish.
- Find him.
- 10-4.
There's no doubt in this prosecutor's mind that Mr.
Tommy Francise committed both of these murders.
I think you should go issue a warrant for his arrest and take his feet off the ground.
Yes, sir.
I wonder who's gonna buy this house.
That house is gonna be abandoned, but the best thing to do now is level it.
I agree.
Once we get the warrant signed, we commit it, and I say we stay on it.
- You know what I'm saying? - First chance we get to catch him, catch him.
We need to find out where he's at.
After we get the warrant signed, - what about us pinging his phone? - Ping the phone.
And if he's coming down the interstate, - we know exactly where he's at.
- See where he is.
Y'all ever thought this day would come? Never.
I never thought it would come to this.
25 years on the first one, right? - And here we sitting in 2016 - Yep.
Waiting to get a warrant signed for murder.
Why do you got to be different today? What you mean? I mean, we got to get you a black shirt like Rodie.
We all wearing black today for some reason.
It's like mourning.
- Y'all wearing black? - You all up in yellow, like it's Easter.
I wore yellow 'cause it's a happy day.
It's a good day.
It's a good day for society in general.
Warrant's signed.
About time.
Having that arrest warrant in my hand Gosh, there's no better feeling in the world.
I wish we could bring it to the family members, and it would have a spot on the bottom for each one of them to sign.
They need to know it's real this time.
I'm gonna drive out there by his house, and if he's there, we're gonna take him down right there.
We'll execute this warrant.
Now that we got a warrant to go arrest Tommy Francise and lock his ass up for murder, we got to go find his ass.
And that ain't gonna be no easy task knowing Tommy Francise.
I'm next door now.
I don't know, but it's quiet over here.
There's nothing moving around.
His old truck is here, that flatbed he got, that regular flatbed pickup.
It's in the driveway parked face-forward.
But his main truck is gone.
He drives an 18-Wheeler.
He could be on the run.
I say we start pinging his phone.
Let's find out where his ass is at right now.
All right.
Who knows where Tommy's at right now? Tommy could be laying on a beach in Miami drinking mojitos, or he could be on a long run in Texas.
We don't know exactly where he's at.
But there's a way we can find Tommy.
We can ping his cellphone.
This line is being recorded for quality purposes.
What number are you calling about? We can get into his cellphone records and find out where he's at utilizing GPS location tracking.
So if that device is there and Tommy has that device in his hand, that's where Tommy's at.
The subject that we are trying to track the phone at, we have two warrants for him for second-degree murder, and he has been actively threatening law enforcement, as well as the witnesses involved in this.
And word is starting to get out that the warrants are active, and he's becoming an imminent threat.
I need the exact location of his cellular device.
Thank you so much.
- All right.
Good deal.
- That's good.
Can we roll in 20 minutes? - If she's good, not long.
- She sounds legit.
Yeah, she sounded like she was gonna get on it.
So I got my e-mail opened up, so as soon as we get one, it'll pop up.
It's a waiting game now.
Waiting for a ping to come in can escalate your emotions a lot.
Not only is Tommy a flight risk, but Tommy's dangerous.
And we need to find him as quickly as we can.
But I say once we get the ping and it shows him traveling, the pings are gonna give us the direction.
Got one.
He ain't around here.
30.
01972.
Yeah.
He's in Texas.
Northwest of San Antonio.
From here to San Antonio is, what, six hours? - Eight.
Eight.
- Eight? - And he's north of that? - Pretty sure.
Tommy drives an 18-Wheeler.
We find out he's in Texas.
What we have to do is have Patience and let him move.
Once he's in our parish or close to our parish, then we go and get Tommy.
We can take him in custody and bring him directly to our jail.
But I say once we get the ping and it shows him close to the Louisiana-Texas border, we make our move.
Think it'll happen in the middle of the night, like 2:00, 3:00 in the morning, something like that? - If he's heading this way, yeah.
- Okay.
And Jeremy's up getting alerts.
- He'll be up.
- Jeremy's needs to be it.
Jeremy, you got my permission to drink all the red bull you want.
Matter of fact, I suggest we buy you a case.
Possible strategies If he's coming highway 1 out of white castle, we catch him in that stretch between highway 1 and white castle.
We'll get a road unit to stop him as a regular traffic stop.
Once we get him out of the vehicle, then we come, drive up on him.
We want to arrest Tommy on the highway because criminals are most vulnerable when they in transit.
If we were to try to go and arrest him at another place, for instance, his house, his kingdom, his castle, who knows what trap doors he has in his house? Who knows what gun lurking around the corner, what bunker he might run and hide in and it turns into a hostage situation? We get him on our highway, we pick the spot, we dictate the time, and we dictate how.
Now, these are the two Bridges I'm talking about, major.
- Right.
- Every time I turn my lights on - on somebody here - Yeah.
When they see this bridge, if they crawling across it, they running.
Once you hit this peak, hit your lights.
- Okay, gotcha.
- He's gonna merge off - He'll get off right here.
- Onto that shoulder.
While monitoring Tommy's phone, we're waiting for it to establish a pattern coming back to Louisiana.
Once we can establish that pattern and come up with a definite time frame of when we'll be looking face-to-face with Tommy, then we'll take off.
My suggestion is you guys right here - under the interstate.
- Yep.
There's a nice, gravel turn-around that's been put here for our intervention units.
- Right.
- Y'all can shoot right up here and come across it and get in on it.
- And get behind.
- And if he runs Or y'all can come straight up the traffic.
Or if we under here, we can come back up.
- That's right.
- Headfirst.
I think that's fool-proof.
I don't think he can go nowhere.
He's sitting still right now.
I hope he's picking up a load of ka knives and switchblades so he can learn how to cut sugarcane in Angola.
He can ride.
He can travel.
He can put as many miles as he wants on that raggedy-ass old truck he got.
Sooner or later, two things gonna happen You coming to me, or I'm coming to you.
But your ass is got this time.
Simple as that.
We'll wait.
We got 25 years we waited.
What's 24 hours? We've been watching Tommy's activities by pinging his phone.
He's spending a lot of time in Texas.
Tommy doesn't move for hours.
Hey, it's been about 14 hours, dude.
He hasn't moved a bit.
Still in the same spot since last night.
Something ain't right.
- Something's not right.
- Same truck stop.
If the enemy's sitting in a truck stop for 14 hours, - something's not right.
- I got a weird feeling.
A truck that sits is a truck not making money.
Anybody who runs trucks, don't they tell you if the wheels are not turning - They ain't making no money.
- They ain't making no money.
But they got rules on how many hours they can run - in a 24-hour period, too.
- This is Tommy Francise.
Yeah, they got to follow that law.
Tommy don't follow rules.
I'm not feeling comfortable with it simply because of the timeline, him sitting there.
Jeremy, call his phone.
You'll spoof the number.
Call it.
All I want to do is hear his voice.
Hang up on him.
If he tries to call back, don't answer it.
That way, we want something, he's all right.
Yes, don't leave him a voice-mail.
I just want to hear his voice.
I want him alive.
I just want him to answer the phone.
The wireless customer you are calling is not available.
I don't like that.
Why is he not answering the phone? - It's strange.
- Let's do this I didn't want to do it unless it was necessary, but let's see if we can find out what jurisdiction that is - And send him over there.
- Send a unit to make a pass through there and see if his truck's in that parking lot.
That's what I thought about this morning.
I want to know why he's not answering that phone.
- Yeah.
- I mean, I don't want him jumping out and arresting him and stuff like that.
No, I don't, either.
Exactly.
I don't want to tell him, say, he's wanted for murder.
When we reach out to Tommy from a disguised number and he doesn't answer his phone, or the phone comes back like it's been cut off or ditched Who knows what's going on right there? We need to confirm Tommy's sitting in that parking lot.
Let's reach out to our brothers and sisters in the state of Texas and see if they can put eyes on him for us.
Yes, ma'am, how you doing? My name is detective St.
Angelo with Iberville sheriff's office in Louisiana.
I'm trying to identify a vehicle that could possibly be parked at the truck stop off of 45, and I'd like to see if I could get a patrolman to make a pass by there and see if they can identify a vehicle for me.
It's gonna be a semi tractor trailer.
Yes, ma'am.
I do not want them to make contact with the individual.
He's a suspect in a murder investigation in Louisiana.
And I've been tracking the individual, and I'm trying to verify that he's still there.
Yes, please, ma'am.
Thank you.
I didn't think he's not dead.
No, he ain't dead.
He's there.
At least we know where he's at.
I've pinged a lot of phones.
And, you know, I know technology isn't your thing.
I want to get him, though, man.
Crook time doesn't exist.
They don't punch a time clock.
Seemed like he's staying in Texas like he don't want to come back to Louisiana, like somebody done tipped him off that we waiting for him or something.
Just be patient.
He's coming.
I just worry about, you know, if that phone Something happened to that phone, we lost.
We don't know where he's at now.
Quit worrying about Tommy.
I'm gonna take you somewhere you can relax your mind off of it.
Come on.
Let's go get some go-go juice.
I don't want no damn go-go juice.
- I want coffee.
- Come on, I'm gonna take you to my secret spot.
They got coffee at your secret spot? They got a little something-something we can whip up for you.
I don't want that iced coffee I want strong coffee.
Stand by.
We're coming in hot.
- Where are we going? - We're gonna refuel our tanks for when Tommy comes in town.
God, now you're taking me behind the building somewhere.
This is called a drive-through.
Don't order me nothing.
I can order my own.
Would you like pumpkin spice mocha, - white chocolate mocha? - I see what I'm Protein-packed coffees Look, dude, right here.
Hey, ask them if they got community dark roast.
Cherry cheesecake.
Blueberry cheesecake.
Black.
- Less sugar.
- Shut up.
I'm gonna order for you.
God, that stench.
I need a tropical lean pineapple-and-banana smoothie Make that two.
Can you put some joint repair in his smoothie? It's not "survive.
" It's "thrive.
" Which one has the joint repair? - The joint repair is in the - I don't want that.
All right, be grateful.
If this joint-repair stuff works and Tommy takes off running, we're gonna let you chase him.
- Tommy.
- Cheers.
Ch I'm not drinking this.
Come on, this is a big arrest.
It's going down.
- Take a sip.
- I'm with you on that.
If I can sit and have a drink with you, take a sip.
Okay.
Takes like bananas.
Thank you, buddy.
You're welcome.
Let's go back to the office.
Let's see if they heard anything.
Texas ought to be calling back pretty soon - and telling us where he's at.
- Right.
Hello? Yes, ma'am, this is detective St.
Angelo.
Okay, so you're saying he's not in the truck stop right now? He's definitely not there? The truck's not there? All right, thank you.
I appreciate all your help.
All right, bye-bye.
Texas says he's not in the parking lot.
What's the latest and greatest? According to this, he's still there.
We're getting pings about every 15, 20 minutes, - sometimes a little bit longer.
- Some of them an hour.
Well, if ain't there, he must have just left.
He may have left his phone at that truck stop, dude, if he found out about that warrant.
It makes me think Tommy threw his phone away.
Did he leave it somewhere? Was Tommy using another phone that we don't know about? The only thing I can pray and hope is that sooner or later that phone that we tracking pings, and it comes back closer and closer to Louisiana.
If he knows there's a warrant for his arrest, - Tommy ain't coming back.
- He's gonna keep going south.
He's liable to go to Mexico.
Hold on.
A new ping's coming in now.
He's moving east.
He's heading our way.
He's eastbound now.
How far is that from the Louisiana line? From the line? About an hour, give or take.
We need to make a move.
That makes him 3, 3 1/2 hours away from us.
Tommy's coming back to Louisiana, and it's time to put our game plan in place.
It's "go" time.
It's time for us to suit up and head out of here.
He's heading my way now.
And when he heads a little bit closer Everybody, you need to get your vest on, get everything you need, whatever ammo you need.
Let's roll.
Got your ass! 2 1/2 hours, maybe it just depends on how he goes, man.
- Let's go find him.
- Good, good, good, good.
He ought to be crossing the state line in an hour.
If he decides he's gonna run, make sure he's got an Avenue to get out and not hurt us.
Make sure you're all cautious, you have fingers on the triggers.
10 minutes till wheels up.
Yeah.
Going into a high-risk situation, things could go bad at any moment for us.
My safety is important 'cause I have a family I need to come back to, but I understand the oath that I took to protect and serve this community and this great state.
Hey, dude.
What's happening? That's good.
That's a good boy.
You got a lot to do? How was school today? What did y'all do? Anything cool? Well, you better remember those things.
It's gonna be important later on.
What you want to be when you grow up? Boy, a Navy seal has got to remember things.
Probably gonna be home a little late tonight, all right? Really late you'll be sleeping.
But I'll be there when you wake up.
Yes, sir.
Don't forget to brush your teeth and say your prayers, all right? Love you.
Bye.
My little boy would ask me, whenever he knew I was going into a hot situation He'd say, "daddy, you gonna wear your bullet press?" 'Cause he never could say "bulletproof vest.
" He's on my mind.
He's the most important thing in this world.
So when I strap on what he says is that "bullet press" and we set out, it changes into me coming home safely and protecting my family that's out there with me.
Thomas should be entering our state pretty soon.
- He's got to come down I-10.
- Hey, guys, we good? We're gonna set the unit behind him, traffic-stop him, and then we're gonna approach him with about six or seven other units.
All right, let's roll.
All right, everybody on detective channel? 10-4.
Check.
All these years I've dreamed of this day, to put closure to that family, to put Tommy Francise away and knowing he won't hurt anybody anymore.
I have a family.
My wife has been a nervous wreck worrying about me in these cases and my health.
And until I put Tommy's ass away, we can't be happy.
- Lake Charles.
- Lake Charles.
Copy that.
We've been pinging Tommy's phone for about three days now.
We put in a lot of long hours to locate Tommy and finally bring him to justice.
Just caught a second wind now.
Drop it down in another gear and take off.
Tony, hey, just to give you a heads up, he is in lake Charles, and he is rolling this way.
So I'm thinking, what, an hour and a half, two hours tops.
And as soon as we get the cuffs on him, I will give you the call.
We're gonna go down there, and we're gonna set up in the dark.
And we're gonna look for this truck to drop off the interstate.
And when he crosses over that railroad overpass, there's a pad right there.
Pull off the pad.
Block the interstate sideways.
I'll be behind him lighting him up with lights and sirens and forcing him off the interstate.
The way out is that exit ramp.
And then he'll be met at the end of that exit ramp at that stop sign, which, by law, he has to come to a stop.
"Don't forget about the you, I ain't stopping," too.
- Yeah, that's - You got to keep that - in the back of your mind.
- That's a possibility.
This is gonna be the truck we're looking for.
Gonna be a white mack semi tractor trailer with a flatbed hauling an unknown amount of equipment on it.
Major, we got one, two, three, four, five of us.
I'd like to take snelson with me.
That's gonna leave me, Rodie - Brett.
- Brett.
We're nose-to-nose.
We're gonna be under the interstate.
He's rolling right into our trap.
It's ironic because Cochise and George Barrett rolled - into his trap.
- Into his trap, exactly.
So it's you know, Karma is a bitch.
It is.
And she's hitting hard today.
Yeah, she is.
She's hitting hard.
Hour and a half.
- He's making a lot of ground.
- Yeah, he is.
He's moving fast.
Everybody here is pretty well set up, ready to go.
We're setting up our sting operation, and each investigator has their own assigned position and task to take Tommy down.
My task is to be further down the road to put eyes on Tommy once he drops off that bridge and then comes back to Iberville parish.
So 50 would have been about right for right about here.
Yeah, 50 to 60 miles.
He's not far.
Not far at all.
That last one was 35 minutes apart, dude.
We cannot afford that.
Yeah.
He shouldn't take long.
He should have been almost on top of us by now, really, or getting damn close.
The pings we're receiving from Tommy's cellphone have been really helpful.
We have a play-by-play as to where he's at.
But the intervals that these pings come in plays a factor because if Tommy passes by before we get a ping, it'll be too late.
You got any update? Two more minutes before another update.
Bingo.
Got one.
All right.
He might have stopped Crowley.
Make sure.
- He stopped? - I think he stopped.
- Damn! - I know.
That mother killing me, man.
- He's in Crowley.
- That mother keep us in misery till the end.
All right damn.
When he's this close to being home, why stop in Crowley? There's nothing in Crowley at this time of night.
He's not but 45 minutes to an hour away from Iberville parish line.
Why not come on home? This next ping if he's still in that Crowley area, Aubrey, I'll suggest you start rolling that way, find him.
10-4.
Tommy's only 45 minutes from his house now.
I have no idea why he's sitting there.
It looks like Tommy's playing possum.
My assignment is to put eyes on Tommy while the team hangs back in case he's heading out here after all.
- Still in Crowley.
- Son of a bitch! - Aubrey.
- Yeah? Another ping still in Crowley.
All right.
I'm on my way.
Hey, Aubrey's heading to Crowley.
Haul ass, Aubrey.
My brother was in law enforcement many years ago.
He was a dispatcher.
Matter of fact, he'd pick me up sometimes, bring me by the jail, and sit down and talk to the deputies.
I just took a liking to it, like, "man, this has got to be" the coolest job in the world, you know? "I got to do this.
" This is a small community.
We got 800 people here.
I know every one of them by first and last name, and they know me.
It's a challenge, and I've locked up first cousins.
Say, "hey, it's nothing personal", and I hope you don't take it personal, but I'm gonna do my job.
"And if you violate the law, I'm gonna do what I got to do.
" I knew Tommy Francise when I was growing up.
I remember running a track meet many years ago against Tommy Francise.
It was not even close, and I considered myself to be pretty fast.
Nobody could beat him.
He was that good.
But now Tommy Francise is a danger.
He needs to be taken off these streets.
Time is of the essence.
We need to get on him quick.
- Aubrey.
- Yeah? Another ping still in Crowley.
I'm on my way.
Haul ass, Aubrey.
He stopped at Crowley.
He's only about an hour and a half away from being in his bed.
I don't understand why he's stopping there.
He's close enough for us to put eyes on him.
Truck stop one of One of these truck stops right here.
10-4.
Tommy's not coming home tonight.
We need to go to him.
Two things what if he broke down and somebody picked him up? Or what if he just left the truck there on purpose, and somebody picked him up? The good possibility He threw that damn phone out the window, and it's sitting in Crowley in a parking lot on the side of the road somewhere.
We got to figure that out.
And if he's on the run, he's a dangerous individual.
- Everybody better be - On their game.
On their game, ready to roll.
Yeah, let's sit tight for a second.
Let's wait for one more ping.
- Then, we'll make a decision.
- Got it.
- Yeah.
- Same spot? - Yep.
- Same spot.
Not yet.
Outside the back of it.
Right there.
See him? Right there.
- What? - Look, dead ahead.
- There he is.
- Yep, there he is.
As soon as we exit the interstate, you can see his truck parked out front, sitting plain as day.
Yeah.
That's it.
We got him.
We got him.
He's not parked in the back, ready to sleep like everybody else.
He's out in the front.
We set up a surveillance point on him and put eyes on him and watched him for a little while.
Just the vehicle? That concerns me.
All right, new ping.
His phone's still there.
I don't know about him, but his phone is.
Phone's still in the same location.
- Unless he left that phone - He ain't left that phone.
Yeah.
Let's roll.
- 10-4.
- Let's keep an eye on him.
Don't get out till we get there.
10-4.
Aubrey, we got to notify the local authorities up there to give us a hand.
They got to get a sergeant over there or a lieutenant over there to make a call.
And that's it.
That's their call.
They might want to bring a S.
W.
A.
T.
Team in.
Lafayette P.
D.
Is en route.
Talked to lieutenant mouton.
He said that he's on the phone right now with one of his k-9 handlers.
He's gonna get two of his units and at least one of his k-9 handlers here.
They'll go from there.
I'm pulling off the exit now.
We gonna get him this time.
- There he is.
- Yep.
Now, that's it.
That's him.
All right, we gonna meet y'all, make a block, coming around the back of the building.
- Grab the warrant? - On my dashboard.
Go ahead and grab it.
His truck is there.
It's a semi.
- Okay.
- That's the truck.
You don't know if he has any weapons? Do not.
Do not.
Certainly.
Gotcha.
Right.
Yeah.
As soon as we move to the truck, they're gonna move to the restaurant and the store and just hold those doors in case he is inside.
- Right.
- If he's not in the truck or he doesn't answer Check it out.
- Yes, sir.
- You all ready to make a roll? - Yeah.
- Let's go.
- Let's go.
- Let's do this.
- Perfect.
- Go do it.
You got a thousand things going through your head.
"Does he have a gun?" Is he gonna put it up, "or is he gonna walk out freely and say, 'y'all got me'?" At that moment, your heart is beating out your chest.
You have no idea what he's gonna do.
In a split second, your life and his life can change like this.
I got a visual.
I got a visual.
There he is.
He's moving to the front.
Coming in! Coming in! Coming in! Coming to the door.
He's coming to the door.
Tommy, get out the truck! Get out of the truck, and get down! Let me see your hands! There's not a lot at stake today.
There's a hell of a lot at stake today The next hurdle we have to jump is a bond hearing.
More than likely, he's on the street.
Not for law enforcement only For these witnesses and for the people of this parish.
Here's another one of Rodie's cold cases that drove me crazy.
Curtis Smith, nickname "Cochise.
" From day freaking one, I could just feel it in my gut who did it Tommy Francise.
But if you really go out and talk to the people of this town, that's not the only blood on Tommy Francise's hands.
Well, if you're looking for a pattern, look at George Barrett.
He's another Tommy Francise employee who turned up dead.
If I don't get him off the street, everything I've done don't amount to nothing.
He told you that he killed Cochise and that he killed George Barrett.
And you shot him.
There's our "right.
" We're up.
We're down.
He's confirming the shoot.
We have to convince a jury, beyond a reasonable doubt.
We got enough to put Tommy Francise's ass away forever.
Maybe I was wrong Maybe I was right Maybe is the difference Between death and life Today is the day.
Everything we worked on way back and including now is coming to an end.
Finally, after all this time, we present our case against Tommy Francise.
His days of breathing fresh air and walking the streets of plaquemine is fixing to come to an end.
28 years Finally, a little justice may be served.
I can feel it.
We have a strong case against Tommy Francise.
The only thing we lack is some physical evidence.
But what we have is a very good circumstantial case.
We're gonna present the case we have against Tommy to the district attorney.
The district attorney could reject the information we're giving, tell us we need some more evidence.
So with the evidence we've gathered so far with Melina's statement Arlene's statement and that he killed George Barrett.
And the voice-stress expert - And you shot at him? - Right.
- That is a truthful answer.
- Boom.
And to have that put together and bring it to Tony Clayton, I want it to be airtight so we can put this guy away.
Pretty much, right now, it's all on the line.
Man, I sure do miss doing two-a-days.
"Two-a-day" what? Going to the bathroom twice a day or something? - What are you talking about? - No.
Hitting the gym twice a day.
I'm not talking about a bowel movement.
- What you trying to do? - Dude, I used to be a lot more jacked than what I am.
These cases just hold me down.
You work out twice a day? Is that what you're saying? - Right.
- I used to do that, too.
I used to lift two glasses of crown every night.
That's why your wife left you.
Big day today.
You got to present the case.
You ready? It's been a tough road working all of that up and making it flow.
You had 25 years of information that we had to link together.
Right.
Every interview, every statement It was a beast to put that together.
But you got it.
Once we present it to the district attorney, they gonna look at it and they gonna appreciate it and go forth with it is where I feel like we're going.
I pray.
I pray that warrant gets signed.
I've been waiting for this a long time.
A long time.
Tony, sheriff, we wanted y'all to take a look at the presentation we put together with the evidence that we compiled.
I think y'all will be impressed with it.
Hopefully we can bring it to a grand jury and get an indictment on Tommy.
Today is the day.
We get shot down on the day, I don't know what else we can do or what else we can give him to make this case any better than what we got.
Our victims are obviously gonna be Curtis Smith, "Cochise," followed by George Barrett in 2002.
A list of witnesses in the early '90s consisted of 15 individuals brought in.
We have these recordings to this date.
We can give you the 32 witnesses that we brought in to this date that we have video and audio recordings giving us information stating that Tommy Francise did, in fact, murder Curtis Smith and George Barrett and how he did it.
I have all the faith in the world in Tony Clayton.
Do I have it in the justice system? Hell no.
I pray this time that I can believe in them.
But I damn sure ain't holding my breath 'cause I've been through this before.
- Let me ask you this question.
- Yes, sir.
The statement that Tommy Francise gave We have 10 people that we can come forth and corroborate everything Tommy said in his statement in 2001.
Did the witnesses who gave these statements Were they privy to the statement - that he had given y'all? - No, sir.
And did their statements corroborate the same facts that Tommy confessed to? Yes, sir.
We can put this case together around those details.
Did they all say .
22-caliber rifle? .
22-caliber firearm.
- Body in a barrel? - Body in a barrel.
Body dumped in a body of water? Body submerged in water.
- Was shot in the head? - Yes, sir.
I'm satisfied.
What you men have put together is a strong circumstantial case with direct evidence.
And when you have circumstantial evidence intertwined with direct evidence, the burden of proof is beyond reasonable doubt.
And there's no doubt in this prosecutor's mind that Mr.
Tommy Francise committed both of these murders.
The type of weapon, all of the people that he confessed to It's amazing to me that this man has escaped justice for this long.
I think you should go issue a warrant for his arrest and take his feet off the ground.
- Yes, sir.
- What we wanted to hear.
I don't think I've had a better day than this in the last 20 years of my life.
I've been waiting to hear them words sing to me for so long it's unbelievable.
- Thank you, my brother.
- Good job, brother.
- Good job.
- Thank you.
- Good job, Rodie.
- Let's go get him.
- Double indictment.
- Double indictment.
Boom! That's good.
Yes, sir.
And get that warrant typed on Francise.
I'm all over it.
We're charging Tommy Francise with two counts of second-degree murder Intentional killing or taking the life of a human being when it's not pre-meditated or planned.
It's punishable by life in prison.
We're gonna rain fire and hell on his ass.
In order to get an arrest warrant, you put the information into the body of the warrant with the facts that can put forth enough probable cause for the judge to read and sign off on to bring that person to justice.
Send it.
Almost got him after 25 years, but I don't have him yet.
I'll be fulfilled when I hear them cuffs "click, click" on his wrists.
Whether we have to use deadly force or whether we can do it peacefully, that's up to Tommy.
We're gonna traffic-stop him.
He's not gonna move an inch after that 'cause we're gonna swarm him.
He's moving east.
He's heading our way.
He's eastbound, man.
We need to make a move.
Karma is a bitch, and she's hitting hard today.
Yeah.
Whoa, he might stop.
Damn.
He got a call, and somebody tipped his ass off.
This is too much, man.
If Tommy's on the run, he's more dangerous than when he is walking the streets of Iberville parish.
- Find him.
- 10-4.
There's no doubt in this prosecutor's mind that Mr.
Tommy Francise committed both of these murders.
I think you should go issue a warrant for his arrest and take his feet off the ground.
Yes, sir.
I wonder who's gonna buy this house.
That house is gonna be abandoned, but the best thing to do now is level it.
I agree.
Once we get the warrant signed, we commit it, and I say we stay on it.
- You know what I'm saying? - First chance we get to catch him, catch him.
We need to find out where he's at.
After we get the warrant signed, - what about us pinging his phone? - Ping the phone.
And if he's coming down the interstate, - we know exactly where he's at.
- See where he is.
Y'all ever thought this day would come? Never.
I never thought it would come to this.
25 years on the first one, right? - And here we sitting in 2016 - Yep.
Waiting to get a warrant signed for murder.
Why do you got to be different today? What you mean? I mean, we got to get you a black shirt like Rodie.
We all wearing black today for some reason.
It's like mourning.
- Y'all wearing black? - You all up in yellow, like it's Easter.
I wore yellow 'cause it's a happy day.
It's a good day.
It's a good day for society in general.
Warrant's signed.
About time.
Having that arrest warrant in my hand Gosh, there's no better feeling in the world.
I wish we could bring it to the family members, and it would have a spot on the bottom for each one of them to sign.
They need to know it's real this time.
I'm gonna drive out there by his house, and if he's there, we're gonna take him down right there.
We'll execute this warrant.
Now that we got a warrant to go arrest Tommy Francise and lock his ass up for murder, we got to go find his ass.
And that ain't gonna be no easy task knowing Tommy Francise.
I'm next door now.
I don't know, but it's quiet over here.
There's nothing moving around.
His old truck is here, that flatbed he got, that regular flatbed pickup.
It's in the driveway parked face-forward.
But his main truck is gone.
He drives an 18-Wheeler.
He could be on the run.
I say we start pinging his phone.
Let's find out where his ass is at right now.
All right.
Who knows where Tommy's at right now? Tommy could be laying on a beach in Miami drinking mojitos, or he could be on a long run in Texas.
We don't know exactly where he's at.
But there's a way we can find Tommy.
We can ping his cellphone.
This line is being recorded for quality purposes.
What number are you calling about? We can get into his cellphone records and find out where he's at utilizing GPS location tracking.
So if that device is there and Tommy has that device in his hand, that's where Tommy's at.
The subject that we are trying to track the phone at, we have two warrants for him for second-degree murder, and he has been actively threatening law enforcement, as well as the witnesses involved in this.
And word is starting to get out that the warrants are active, and he's becoming an imminent threat.
I need the exact location of his cellular device.
Thank you so much.
- All right.
Good deal.
- That's good.
Can we roll in 20 minutes? - If she's good, not long.
- She sounds legit.
Yeah, she sounded like she was gonna get on it.
So I got my e-mail opened up, so as soon as we get one, it'll pop up.
It's a waiting game now.
Waiting for a ping to come in can escalate your emotions a lot.
Not only is Tommy a flight risk, but Tommy's dangerous.
And we need to find him as quickly as we can.
But I say once we get the ping and it shows him traveling, the pings are gonna give us the direction.
Got one.
He ain't around here.
30.
01972.
Yeah.
He's in Texas.
Northwest of San Antonio.
From here to San Antonio is, what, six hours? - Eight.
Eight.
- Eight? - And he's north of that? - Pretty sure.
Tommy drives an 18-Wheeler.
We find out he's in Texas.
What we have to do is have Patience and let him move.
Once he's in our parish or close to our parish, then we go and get Tommy.
We can take him in custody and bring him directly to our jail.
But I say once we get the ping and it shows him close to the Louisiana-Texas border, we make our move.
Think it'll happen in the middle of the night, like 2:00, 3:00 in the morning, something like that? - If he's heading this way, yeah.
- Okay.
And Jeremy's up getting alerts.
- He'll be up.
- Jeremy's needs to be it.
Jeremy, you got my permission to drink all the red bull you want.
Matter of fact, I suggest we buy you a case.
Possible strategies If he's coming highway 1 out of white castle, we catch him in that stretch between highway 1 and white castle.
We'll get a road unit to stop him as a regular traffic stop.
Once we get him out of the vehicle, then we come, drive up on him.
We want to arrest Tommy on the highway because criminals are most vulnerable when they in transit.
If we were to try to go and arrest him at another place, for instance, his house, his kingdom, his castle, who knows what trap doors he has in his house? Who knows what gun lurking around the corner, what bunker he might run and hide in and it turns into a hostage situation? We get him on our highway, we pick the spot, we dictate the time, and we dictate how.
Now, these are the two Bridges I'm talking about, major.
- Right.
- Every time I turn my lights on - on somebody here - Yeah.
When they see this bridge, if they crawling across it, they running.
Once you hit this peak, hit your lights.
- Okay, gotcha.
- He's gonna merge off - He'll get off right here.
- Onto that shoulder.
While monitoring Tommy's phone, we're waiting for it to establish a pattern coming back to Louisiana.
Once we can establish that pattern and come up with a definite time frame of when we'll be looking face-to-face with Tommy, then we'll take off.
My suggestion is you guys right here - under the interstate.
- Yep.
There's a nice, gravel turn-around that's been put here for our intervention units.
- Right.
- Y'all can shoot right up here and come across it and get in on it.
- And get behind.
- And if he runs Or y'all can come straight up the traffic.
Or if we under here, we can come back up.
- That's right.
- Headfirst.
I think that's fool-proof.
I don't think he can go nowhere.
He's sitting still right now.
I hope he's picking up a load of ka knives and switchblades so he can learn how to cut sugarcane in Angola.
He can ride.
He can travel.
He can put as many miles as he wants on that raggedy-ass old truck he got.
Sooner or later, two things gonna happen You coming to me, or I'm coming to you.
But your ass is got this time.
Simple as that.
We'll wait.
We got 25 years we waited.
What's 24 hours? We've been watching Tommy's activities by pinging his phone.
He's spending a lot of time in Texas.
Tommy doesn't move for hours.
Hey, it's been about 14 hours, dude.
He hasn't moved a bit.
Still in the same spot since last night.
Something ain't right.
- Something's not right.
- Same truck stop.
If the enemy's sitting in a truck stop for 14 hours, - something's not right.
- I got a weird feeling.
A truck that sits is a truck not making money.
Anybody who runs trucks, don't they tell you if the wheels are not turning - They ain't making no money.
- They ain't making no money.
But they got rules on how many hours they can run - in a 24-hour period, too.
- This is Tommy Francise.
Yeah, they got to follow that law.
Tommy don't follow rules.
I'm not feeling comfortable with it simply because of the timeline, him sitting there.
Jeremy, call his phone.
You'll spoof the number.
Call it.
All I want to do is hear his voice.
Hang up on him.
If he tries to call back, don't answer it.
That way, we want something, he's all right.
Yes, don't leave him a voice-mail.
I just want to hear his voice.
I want him alive.
I just want him to answer the phone.
The wireless customer you are calling is not available.
I don't like that.
Why is he not answering the phone? - It's strange.
- Let's do this I didn't want to do it unless it was necessary, but let's see if we can find out what jurisdiction that is - And send him over there.
- Send a unit to make a pass through there and see if his truck's in that parking lot.
That's what I thought about this morning.
I want to know why he's not answering that phone.
- Yeah.
- I mean, I don't want him jumping out and arresting him and stuff like that.
No, I don't, either.
Exactly.
I don't want to tell him, say, he's wanted for murder.
When we reach out to Tommy from a disguised number and he doesn't answer his phone, or the phone comes back like it's been cut off or ditched Who knows what's going on right there? We need to confirm Tommy's sitting in that parking lot.
Let's reach out to our brothers and sisters in the state of Texas and see if they can put eyes on him for us.
Yes, ma'am, how you doing? My name is detective St.
Angelo with Iberville sheriff's office in Louisiana.
I'm trying to identify a vehicle that could possibly be parked at the truck stop off of 45, and I'd like to see if I could get a patrolman to make a pass by there and see if they can identify a vehicle for me.
It's gonna be a semi tractor trailer.
Yes, ma'am.
I do not want them to make contact with the individual.
He's a suspect in a murder investigation in Louisiana.
And I've been tracking the individual, and I'm trying to verify that he's still there.
Yes, please, ma'am.
Thank you.
I didn't think he's not dead.
No, he ain't dead.
He's there.
At least we know where he's at.
I've pinged a lot of phones.
And, you know, I know technology isn't your thing.
I want to get him, though, man.
Crook time doesn't exist.
They don't punch a time clock.
Seemed like he's staying in Texas like he don't want to come back to Louisiana, like somebody done tipped him off that we waiting for him or something.
Just be patient.
He's coming.
I just worry about, you know, if that phone Something happened to that phone, we lost.
We don't know where he's at now.
Quit worrying about Tommy.
I'm gonna take you somewhere you can relax your mind off of it.
Come on.
Let's go get some go-go juice.
I don't want no damn go-go juice.
- I want coffee.
- Come on, I'm gonna take you to my secret spot.
They got coffee at your secret spot? They got a little something-something we can whip up for you.
I don't want that iced coffee I want strong coffee.
Stand by.
We're coming in hot.
- Where are we going? - We're gonna refuel our tanks for when Tommy comes in town.
God, now you're taking me behind the building somewhere.
This is called a drive-through.
Don't order me nothing.
I can order my own.
Would you like pumpkin spice mocha, - white chocolate mocha? - I see what I'm Protein-packed coffees Look, dude, right here.
Hey, ask them if they got community dark roast.
Cherry cheesecake.
Blueberry cheesecake.
Black.
- Less sugar.
- Shut up.
I'm gonna order for you.
God, that stench.
I need a tropical lean pineapple-and-banana smoothie Make that two.
Can you put some joint repair in his smoothie? It's not "survive.
" It's "thrive.
" Which one has the joint repair? - The joint repair is in the - I don't want that.
All right, be grateful.
If this joint-repair stuff works and Tommy takes off running, we're gonna let you chase him.
- Tommy.
- Cheers.
Ch I'm not drinking this.
Come on, this is a big arrest.
It's going down.
- Take a sip.
- I'm with you on that.
If I can sit and have a drink with you, take a sip.
Okay.
Takes like bananas.
Thank you, buddy.
You're welcome.
Let's go back to the office.
Let's see if they heard anything.
Texas ought to be calling back pretty soon - and telling us where he's at.
- Right.
Hello? Yes, ma'am, this is detective St.
Angelo.
Okay, so you're saying he's not in the truck stop right now? He's definitely not there? The truck's not there? All right, thank you.
I appreciate all your help.
All right, bye-bye.
Texas says he's not in the parking lot.
What's the latest and greatest? According to this, he's still there.
We're getting pings about every 15, 20 minutes, - sometimes a little bit longer.
- Some of them an hour.
Well, if ain't there, he must have just left.
He may have left his phone at that truck stop, dude, if he found out about that warrant.
It makes me think Tommy threw his phone away.
Did he leave it somewhere? Was Tommy using another phone that we don't know about? The only thing I can pray and hope is that sooner or later that phone that we tracking pings, and it comes back closer and closer to Louisiana.
If he knows there's a warrant for his arrest, - Tommy ain't coming back.
- He's gonna keep going south.
He's liable to go to Mexico.
Hold on.
A new ping's coming in now.
He's moving east.
He's heading our way.
He's eastbound now.
How far is that from the Louisiana line? From the line? About an hour, give or take.
We need to make a move.
That makes him 3, 3 1/2 hours away from us.
Tommy's coming back to Louisiana, and it's time to put our game plan in place.
It's "go" time.
It's time for us to suit up and head out of here.
He's heading my way now.
And when he heads a little bit closer Everybody, you need to get your vest on, get everything you need, whatever ammo you need.
Let's roll.
Got your ass! 2 1/2 hours, maybe it just depends on how he goes, man.
- Let's go find him.
- Good, good, good, good.
He ought to be crossing the state line in an hour.
If he decides he's gonna run, make sure he's got an Avenue to get out and not hurt us.
Make sure you're all cautious, you have fingers on the triggers.
10 minutes till wheels up.
Yeah.
Going into a high-risk situation, things could go bad at any moment for us.
My safety is important 'cause I have a family I need to come back to, but I understand the oath that I took to protect and serve this community and this great state.
Hey, dude.
What's happening? That's good.
That's a good boy.
You got a lot to do? How was school today? What did y'all do? Anything cool? Well, you better remember those things.
It's gonna be important later on.
What you want to be when you grow up? Boy, a Navy seal has got to remember things.
Probably gonna be home a little late tonight, all right? Really late you'll be sleeping.
But I'll be there when you wake up.
Yes, sir.
Don't forget to brush your teeth and say your prayers, all right? Love you.
Bye.
My little boy would ask me, whenever he knew I was going into a hot situation He'd say, "daddy, you gonna wear your bullet press?" 'Cause he never could say "bulletproof vest.
" He's on my mind.
He's the most important thing in this world.
So when I strap on what he says is that "bullet press" and we set out, it changes into me coming home safely and protecting my family that's out there with me.
Thomas should be entering our state pretty soon.
- He's got to come down I-10.
- Hey, guys, we good? We're gonna set the unit behind him, traffic-stop him, and then we're gonna approach him with about six or seven other units.
All right, let's roll.
All right, everybody on detective channel? 10-4.
Check.
All these years I've dreamed of this day, to put closure to that family, to put Tommy Francise away and knowing he won't hurt anybody anymore.
I have a family.
My wife has been a nervous wreck worrying about me in these cases and my health.
And until I put Tommy's ass away, we can't be happy.
- Lake Charles.
- Lake Charles.
Copy that.
We've been pinging Tommy's phone for about three days now.
We put in a lot of long hours to locate Tommy and finally bring him to justice.
Just caught a second wind now.
Drop it down in another gear and take off.
Tony, hey, just to give you a heads up, he is in lake Charles, and he is rolling this way.
So I'm thinking, what, an hour and a half, two hours tops.
And as soon as we get the cuffs on him, I will give you the call.
We're gonna go down there, and we're gonna set up in the dark.
And we're gonna look for this truck to drop off the interstate.
And when he crosses over that railroad overpass, there's a pad right there.
Pull off the pad.
Block the interstate sideways.
I'll be behind him lighting him up with lights and sirens and forcing him off the interstate.
The way out is that exit ramp.
And then he'll be met at the end of that exit ramp at that stop sign, which, by law, he has to come to a stop.
"Don't forget about the you, I ain't stopping," too.
- Yeah, that's - You got to keep that - in the back of your mind.
- That's a possibility.
This is gonna be the truck we're looking for.
Gonna be a white mack semi tractor trailer with a flatbed hauling an unknown amount of equipment on it.
Major, we got one, two, three, four, five of us.
I'd like to take snelson with me.
That's gonna leave me, Rodie - Brett.
- Brett.
We're nose-to-nose.
We're gonna be under the interstate.
He's rolling right into our trap.
It's ironic because Cochise and George Barrett rolled - into his trap.
- Into his trap, exactly.
So it's you know, Karma is a bitch.
It is.
And she's hitting hard today.
Yeah, she is.
She's hitting hard.
Hour and a half.
- He's making a lot of ground.
- Yeah, he is.
He's moving fast.
Everybody here is pretty well set up, ready to go.
We're setting up our sting operation, and each investigator has their own assigned position and task to take Tommy down.
My task is to be further down the road to put eyes on Tommy once he drops off that bridge and then comes back to Iberville parish.
So 50 would have been about right for right about here.
Yeah, 50 to 60 miles.
He's not far.
Not far at all.
That last one was 35 minutes apart, dude.
We cannot afford that.
Yeah.
He shouldn't take long.
He should have been almost on top of us by now, really, or getting damn close.
The pings we're receiving from Tommy's cellphone have been really helpful.
We have a play-by-play as to where he's at.
But the intervals that these pings come in plays a factor because if Tommy passes by before we get a ping, it'll be too late.
You got any update? Two more minutes before another update.
Bingo.
Got one.
All right.
He might have stopped Crowley.
Make sure.
- He stopped? - I think he stopped.
- Damn! - I know.
That mother killing me, man.
- He's in Crowley.
- That mother keep us in misery till the end.
All right damn.
When he's this close to being home, why stop in Crowley? There's nothing in Crowley at this time of night.
He's not but 45 minutes to an hour away from Iberville parish line.
Why not come on home? This next ping if he's still in that Crowley area, Aubrey, I'll suggest you start rolling that way, find him.
10-4.
Tommy's only 45 minutes from his house now.
I have no idea why he's sitting there.
It looks like Tommy's playing possum.
My assignment is to put eyes on Tommy while the team hangs back in case he's heading out here after all.
- Still in Crowley.
- Son of a bitch! - Aubrey.
- Yeah? Another ping still in Crowley.
All right.
I'm on my way.
Hey, Aubrey's heading to Crowley.
Haul ass, Aubrey.
My brother was in law enforcement many years ago.
He was a dispatcher.
Matter of fact, he'd pick me up sometimes, bring me by the jail, and sit down and talk to the deputies.
I just took a liking to it, like, "man, this has got to be" the coolest job in the world, you know? "I got to do this.
" This is a small community.
We got 800 people here.
I know every one of them by first and last name, and they know me.
It's a challenge, and I've locked up first cousins.
Say, "hey, it's nothing personal", and I hope you don't take it personal, but I'm gonna do my job.
"And if you violate the law, I'm gonna do what I got to do.
" I knew Tommy Francise when I was growing up.
I remember running a track meet many years ago against Tommy Francise.
It was not even close, and I considered myself to be pretty fast.
Nobody could beat him.
He was that good.
But now Tommy Francise is a danger.
He needs to be taken off these streets.
Time is of the essence.
We need to get on him quick.
- Aubrey.
- Yeah? Another ping still in Crowley.
I'm on my way.
Haul ass, Aubrey.
He stopped at Crowley.
He's only about an hour and a half away from being in his bed.
I don't understand why he's stopping there.
He's close enough for us to put eyes on him.
Truck stop one of One of these truck stops right here.
10-4.
Tommy's not coming home tonight.
We need to go to him.
Two things what if he broke down and somebody picked him up? Or what if he just left the truck there on purpose, and somebody picked him up? The good possibility He threw that damn phone out the window, and it's sitting in Crowley in a parking lot on the side of the road somewhere.
We got to figure that out.
And if he's on the run, he's a dangerous individual.
- Everybody better be - On their game.
On their game, ready to roll.
Yeah, let's sit tight for a second.
Let's wait for one more ping.
- Then, we'll make a decision.
- Got it.
- Yeah.
- Same spot? - Yep.
- Same spot.
Not yet.
Outside the back of it.
Right there.
See him? Right there.
- What? - Look, dead ahead.
- There he is.
- Yep, there he is.
As soon as we exit the interstate, you can see his truck parked out front, sitting plain as day.
Yeah.
That's it.
We got him.
We got him.
He's not parked in the back, ready to sleep like everybody else.
He's out in the front.
We set up a surveillance point on him and put eyes on him and watched him for a little while.
Just the vehicle? That concerns me.
All right, new ping.
His phone's still there.
I don't know about him, but his phone is.
Phone's still in the same location.
- Unless he left that phone - He ain't left that phone.
Yeah.
Let's roll.
- 10-4.
- Let's keep an eye on him.
Don't get out till we get there.
10-4.
Aubrey, we got to notify the local authorities up there to give us a hand.
They got to get a sergeant over there or a lieutenant over there to make a call.
And that's it.
That's their call.
They might want to bring a S.
W.
A.
T.
Team in.
Lafayette P.
D.
Is en route.
Talked to lieutenant mouton.
He said that he's on the phone right now with one of his k-9 handlers.
He's gonna get two of his units and at least one of his k-9 handlers here.
They'll go from there.
I'm pulling off the exit now.
We gonna get him this time.
- There he is.
- Yep.
Now, that's it.
That's him.
All right, we gonna meet y'all, make a block, coming around the back of the building.
- Grab the warrant? - On my dashboard.
Go ahead and grab it.
His truck is there.
It's a semi.
- Okay.
- That's the truck.
You don't know if he has any weapons? Do not.
Do not.
Certainly.
Gotcha.
Right.
Yeah.
As soon as we move to the truck, they're gonna move to the restaurant and the store and just hold those doors in case he is inside.
- Right.
- If he's not in the truck or he doesn't answer Check it out.
- Yes, sir.
- You all ready to make a roll? - Yeah.
- Let's go.
- Let's go.
- Let's do this.
- Perfect.
- Go do it.
You got a thousand things going through your head.
"Does he have a gun?" Is he gonna put it up, "or is he gonna walk out freely and say, 'y'all got me'?" At that moment, your heart is beating out your chest.
You have no idea what he's gonna do.
In a split second, your life and his life can change like this.
I got a visual.
I got a visual.
There he is.
He's moving to the front.
Coming in! Coming in! Coming in! Coming to the door.
He's coming to the door.
Tommy, get out the truck! Get out of the truck, and get down! Let me see your hands! There's not a lot at stake today.
There's a hell of a lot at stake today The next hurdle we have to jump is a bond hearing.
More than likely, he's on the street.
Not for law enforcement only For these witnesses and for the people of this parish.