The Detectives (2018) s03e02 Episode Script

1 A lot of homicide cases, we can't answer the, "Why?" How could somebody go into a grandmother's home and murder her? It's tragic in every sense.
- This woman's been murdered.
- And you think I did this? I don't have the murder weapon.
It was nearly an impossible task.
Irene didn't just fall.
She was murdered.
She wasn't always the easiest person to get along with.
Who else would have access to Irene's bank card? The person who murdered her.
Everybody wants us to solve this.
There's no greater responsibility.
Physically exhausting, mentally exhausting, and it sticks with you for the rest of your life.
The city of Lethbridge was probably not much different than most other cities.
People were realizing we're not a small, sleepy city anymore, that crime happens in our backyard and in our quiet neighbourhoods.
(SIRENS WAILING) There was a period of 18 months where we had a dozen homicides.
It made people concerned.
Were they safe in their homes? Did they need to lock their doors? Hey.
So, what do we know? Deceased woman is Irene Carter, 78 years old.
Lives alone.
Found by her son-in-law.
He's at the station with his wife, Mrs.
Carter's daughter.
Her body's blocking the front door.
Any signs of forced entry? No, and the doors were locked.
(MAN TALKING ON POLICE RADIO, INDISTINCT) The side door, we determined, was a safe route to go in.
Before the door was open, I could smell death.
I knew that she was dead inside that home before I got inside the home.
To me, she'd been there a couple of days, because it takes some time for that smell to arrive.
You never get used it.
Once you've smelled it once, it enters all your senses, and it sticks with you for the rest of your life.
Her clothing is soaked in blood.
Blood running through her eyes.
Blood down her face.
I could see the stab wounds through her chest and through her heart area.
I move upstairs into the living room, and there's items that are knocked off.
It looks like there's been a struggle.
I wasn't sure.
Was Irene fighting for her life or was somebody ransacking the place? In the kitchen, there's a knife block with a single knife that appeared to be missing.
We find her landline.
The phone cord that plugged the phone into the wall was disconnected.
I knew that somebody had disconnected that phone cord, and that somebody would be the person who committed this homicide.
I went into Irene's bedroom.
Somebody had rummaged through the drawers.
Maybe she came home and interrupted them, and they'd murdered her for her property, for her jewellery, for her rings.
How is it possible for somebody to murder a 78-year-old grandmother? She was a sweet, innocent lady.
She devoted her entire life to her family.
Standing over somebody that's been murdered, it's hard to explain.
I want to connect with that person to try to get a feeling of them, to feel their spirit, feel their soul to reach out to them to let them know that I'm there to help.
Lisa, when was the last time you spoke with your mother? A few days ago.
I, uh We normally speak pretty regularly.
Uh, but I left a few messages, and I didn't hear back.
We we live in Calgary.
That's a two-hour drive.
So I asked my son, Forrest, if, uh, he would go, and then and then check on Mom.
And he lives here.
Um, but he was out camping.
And so then, we we went out ourselves and (SOBBING) Can you, um, walk me through that, please? Yeah, um, I entered the house first.
Through the front? Back.
We always use the back.
I came through the basement and, uh, as I approached the stairs I saw Irene laying there.
And, um, were you with your husband? No, I, uh, I stayed downstairs.
As soon as I saw the body, I yelled not to come in.
I called 911, and I I told them that it looked like she'd fallen down the stairs and hit her head.
How close did you get? Oh, not very.
I saw a lot of blood, but I I could see that it was dry.
So, uh, I knew that it was too late for help.
(SOBBING, SNIFFLING) Look, I'm very sorry to have to tell you this, but Irene didn't just fall.
She was murdered.
(GASPING) What? Why? Well, we're not sure, but perhaps a robbery or, uh, maybe she let someone into the house.
Oh my God! Uh, the last time we spoke, Mom told me about a furnace man that that He he wanted, uh He he wanted her to hire him.
Maybe maybe he came back.
Did, um, did Irene give you some sort of description? Um, just that he was, uh, really pushy.
(MAN ON RADIO): The elderly woman found dead in her home has been identified by Lethbridge Police as 78-year-old Irene Carter.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, friends and family described Carter as a kind, caring grandmother who was enjoying her retirement.
Though a police spokesperson declined to provide reporters details, it has been confirmed that Carter was the victim of a violent attack.
Nice people.
I feel sorry for their family.
Friends of mine, their parents lived in that neighbourhood.
And after that crime happened, they couldn't sleep in their home anymore until the police had this solved.
An autopsy was completed Monday at the Calgary Medical Examiner's Office, which determined Mrs.
Carter died as a result of stab wounds.
The police were here.
They've been here 2 or 3 times.
They went through the backyard.
They brought the dogs.
It's upsetting, but I guess it happens even in Lethbridge.
Everybody wants us to solve this.
The community really wants us to solve this.
Okay.
So, what do we know about Irene Carter? Lisa's her only child.
Her husband, Jack, has dementia, so he was moved to a facility nearly 3 months ago.
She's been living alone ever since.
- No suspicion there.
- Exactly.
Thing is, Irene didn't have many friends, but she didn't have any enemies either.
Not a single person we interviewed thought anyone could harm Irene.
Well, Lisa mentioned something about a pushy furnace man.
So if Irene let him in, it could explain why there was no forced entry.
We should move on him.
Yeah, well, I can call the furnace companies, find out who was going door to door.
But what day are we looking at? When was the last day she was seen? Uh, we have security footage showing Irene and a friend at the casino at 10:25 a.
m.
on Wednesday the 13th.
13th Were they gambling? No.
They were having breakfast.
Yeah.
I can confirm with security, Irene wasn't a gambler.
She just liked taking advantage of the breakfast deal.
So, the friend dropped Irene off at home afterwards, around 11:30 a.
m.
Uh, she didn't go in.
We talked to her.
Uh, she offered a DNA sample.
She was cooperative.
Uh, there's no suspicion there.
We checked her answering machine, and she listened to a message at 11:54 a.
m.
Okay, what was the message? She had a $65 fee on her new mortgage insurance.
And after that, she picked up a call from Lisa at 12:28 p.
m.
Okay, we can talk to Lisa about that.
Anything else? Nothing.
The next call comes in at 7:41 p.
m.
, a friend checking in, but Irene never listened to the message or any of the ones after that.
Right.
So, she was alive at 12:28.
Then she didn't pick up the phone or check her messages at 7:41.
So we could assume that the murder probably happened sometime in that window.
Does the autopsy report mention a time of death? No.
Just says it happened more than 36 hours ago.
- Cause of death is stabbing.
- Hmm.
(INHALING DEEPLY) 18 stab wounds.
Unbelievable.
But hold on.
It says here that she suffered blunt-force trauma to the back of the head.
Now, Dean thought that she died from a head wound.
Her chest was covered in blood.
Why jump to head wound? The examiner needed to shave her hair just to see the trauma.
We need his alibi.
Bring them back in.
You got it.
(STEF): Dean's initial call to 911 was that Irene had fallen down the stairs and hit her head.
(SIGHING) We couldn't see the injury on scene.
How did he know she hit her head? Irene's phone showed a call from you at 12:28 p.
m.
Do you remember what that was about? Uh, it was a typical check-in.
Except for the furnace man, um, comment I told you about.
And what did you do after the call? I was with my friend, Andrea.
We went to the mall, and, uh, after that, we went back home to my house for lunch.
She left at 5:00 p.
m.
, and I went to the gym.
Okay.
And, uh, what about you? I was at work.
Uh, I'm working really long hours.
I'm hardly ever home.
Now, please remind me, when you found Irene's body, what did you think happened? Well, I I thought she fell and hit her head.
And what made you think that? Well, she was at the bottom of the stairs, and I could see blood around her head.
And what about her chest? Was it not covered in blood too? (STEF): So, Dean tells us he didn't get close enough to see anything specific.
Is he trying to cover up a homicide? Is he the person that murdered Irene? It's hard for community to hear, that a 78-year-old lady was stabbed to death inside her own home.
We need to alibi Dean.
We need to know where he was the day of Irene's death.
I call Dean's work, and everybody confirms that Dean is not in Lethbridge during the time of the homicide.
- Ryan? - Yeah.
Look what I just found on the grandson's social-media account.
This one's for you, Grandma.
He told his mother that he couldn't check on Irene over the weekend because he was going camping.
But he posted this on Sunday.
(COUGHING) So we check out Forrest's story.
He never went camping that weekend.
We bring Forrest in to talk to him about his lie, see if he'll come clean.
And he does.
So, your mother told us that you went camping last weekend.
My parents told me I should talk to you about that.
- It wasn't actually true.
- All right.
So why'd you lie? The thing is, my grandma's had a lot of mental-health issues this past year, and my mom was basically taking care of everything for her, but she lives 2 hours away.
Look, I live here, so she was constantly getting me to do stuff for Grandma.
Like checking up on her? I know that it sounds selfish.
It's just I was so sick of it.
So when she called, I said I was up in Crowsnest Pass.
I just never thought my grandma would end up dead.
(INHALING DEEPLY) Were you close to your grandmother? I mean, she gave me some money towards my tuition.
And she'd take me to Costco sometimes.
She was nice like that, but she wasn't always the easiest person to get along with.
Tell me about the 13th.
What did you do that day? Uh, well, I go to U of L, so I had a philosophy class at 3:00.
And then I went to the gym after to work out.
(STEF): Forrest was genuine.
He was tearful.
He was coming across as being completely honest.
But I got to check up on it and make sure.
So we checked with his professor.
He was in class that day.
(MAN ON RADIO): The elderly woman found dead in her home has been identified by Lethbridge Police as 78-year-old Irene Carter.
Carter's body was discovered by a family member.
There's a great fear in the community at this time.
Our home is supposed to be our safe place and our sanctuary, and it's not anymore.
I went in front of the cameras to do a media release and a public plea for help.
Anybody that may be aware of a company, a business or people that may have been at Lethbridge at that time (STEF): I was looking to find if anybody had seen anything they thought was suspicious, and it worked.
- I've got something.
- What's up? Neighbours reported seeing a gas salesman canvassing Irene's area the week of the murder.
Gas and furnaces are related.
Maybe that's the pushy furnace guy Lisa was talking about.
Call the company.
Get a name.
I already did.
Denis Caseman.
There's a warrant out on him for drug possession.
So, I called the gas company, and turns out, he was the guy going door to door the day Irene was killed.
- And he's left town.
- You know where he is? They think he's in Edmonton.
All right, well, call Edmonton and fill them in.
Right now, he's our prime suspect.
It's very important that we find Caseman.
Was he our guy that went door to door? Was he our furnace guy that Irene was talking to Lisa about? Edmonton Police finds Denis for us.
And I have the opportunity to speak with him.
- What's this about? - Have a seat, please.
You sell gas door to door, right? Tell me, how does that work? Do they assign you to neighbourhoods? Yeah.
Different towns and cities.
And they send us out for, like, a week a time.
What about Lethbridge? Which areas did you canvass? Over here.
I've been over here.
He tells me that he was in that neighbourhood that day.
Does, uh, this house look familiar? No.
He told me: "I do not recognize the home".
All right.
What about this woman? What's this about? - This woman's been murdered.
- And you think it was me.
This person has a record.
He has a violent past, but he's willing to do a polygraph.
We cleared Denis of any wrongdoing.
He has nothing to do with this.
So, there were ATM cash withdrawals from Irene's account on the 11th, 12th and 13th, just shy of $1,000 each day.
- Including the day she died.
- Mm-hmm.
And this is the security footage from the ATM machine.
Do you recognize her? I have no idea who this person is.
I've never seen this person before.
It's not Irene.
It's it's not Lisa.
Who else would have access to Irene's bank card? The person who murdered her.
In the hours before Irene's death, this person takes a large amount of money out of Irene's bank account.
How did she get the bank card? Lisa, she knows Irene the best out of everybody.
She might know who this person is.
(LISA): No.
I have no idea who that is.
Thank you.
How much did you say that she, uh, took out? $980.
Oh, that's odd.
That's, uh, pretty much the same amount I took out on the 13th.
You took money out of your mother's account.
- Is that normal? - Oh, absolutely.
I've been handling all of her banking since May.
I had to take over power of attorney because she was having mental-health issues.
Do you have any transaction records? - From the withdrawals? - Yeah.
Well, not likely, no.
Well, would you mind if I pulled information from the bank? Please do.
Great.
Thank you.
So, I talk to the bank about the withdrawal, and they verify, yeah, it was Lisa that took it out.
This shows the $980 withdrawal from Mrs.
Carter's account.
Mm-hmm.
And it shows here the deposit to Mrs.
Freihaut's account.
There's no other withdrawals for that day.
No, this doesn't make any sense.
The footage you sent us clearly shows somebody else making that withdrawal.
How could that be possible? - We could check the footage.
- Yeah, please.
The lady in the video is definitely not Lisa.
Nobody has seen this person before.
We need to figure out who this lady is.
That's not the footage you sent us.
It was Lisa who did the withdrawal.
Initially, the bank had given us the wrong surveillance footage.
Hey, you're not gonna believe this.
We followed up with the friend that alibied Lisa.
- She lied.
- What? She wasn't with her the day of the murder.
- Why would she lie? - Because Lisa asked her to.
She left her this voicemail.
Hey, it's Lisa.
The cops just came up and interviewed me and Dean.
I said that you and I were together on the 13th.
We went out for coffee (STEF): Lisa's setting up an alibi.
She's trying to get one of her close friends to lie to the police about where she was on the day her mother was murdered.
Just let them know that you were with me.
Bye-bye! Lisa's lied to me.
Unbelievable.
Maybe Dean's alibi was a lie as well.
I needed to go out there and find out the truth.
You lied to me about your alibi.
I thought you might come back.
My friend said she told you guys.
Well, now I have a warrant.
Lisa was hiding something.
She's lying and manipulating.
I need to know why.
The truth is, Mom and I fought when we spoke on the 13th.
When we, uh, hung up the phone, um, I was upset.
I can be impulsive, so I, uh, got in the car.
- You drove to Lethbridge? - Yeah.
I wanted to say that I was sorry.
But then when I, uh, got there, there was a car parked in Mom's driveway.
Okay.
Do you remember the make or colour? No.
I think white.
I I had no reason to pay attention.
I thought it was home care.
(SIGHING) So I, um, I parked the car, and I waited for the person to leave.
But they never did.
So I, uh, I left, and I I went home.
So you never actually saw your mother that day.
No.
That makes no sense whatsoever.
I don't know anybody that would drive 2 hours to see their mother after a fight on the phone, and then just sit there and look at the house, and then drive away without making any contact.
We finally went to check up on her and then we found her body.
I was so scared.
I thought: "Holy crap!" (SNIFFLING) "It's gonna look so bad if if I admit that I was there".
So I lied.
I didn't know what else to do.
(SOBBING) (STEF): Lisa trusts me.
She's comfortable knowing that I will listen to her and agree with what she says and take it as fact.
Look, here's the thing, Lisa.
(SIGHING) This is a murder investigation.
So you have to understand that our job is to eliminate you as a suspect.
So, I'm gonna need your phone.
And I'm gonna need the clothes you wore on the 13th.
So that means the pink coat, the jeans, everything, okay? Okay.
I I'll go get them.
Thank you.
We're also gonna need this iPad.
Look, I promise I will get you everything back as soon as I can, okay? And, um, just one more thing.
I'm sorry, but we're also gonna need a DNA sample.
Forensics report on Lisa's clothes.
Great! No blood.
No DNA from Irene.
Dammit! We also got nothing off of Lisa's cell phone.
It was reset to factory settings.
Are you kidding me? Can you at least crack it? Oh, and check this out.
I pulled Lisa's iPad search history.
"How to wipe a cell phone".
"What can police get from a cell dump?" "Police cell phone forensics".
I should've taken their phones that very first day at the station.
Then she never would have wiped her phone.
And we never should have interviewed her and Dean together! Come on, man.
You didn't know.
I mean, we saw them as victims.
Yeah, well, try telling that to the community! You know, people are scared out there because of this.
And there's nothing we can say! Because even if we suspect Lisa, we've got nothing on her.
She's been playing us from the very start.
(STEF): I was angry.
I needed to be able to solve this thing, build a case strong enough to stand up in court, convict Lisa for killing her mother.
The murder of Irene Carter was very disturbing.
It was extremely scary for the neighbourhood, for the city itself.
Out of the blue, we got a phone call from the clerk that was working at a clothing store in Calgary.
The clerk was scared that something sinister was happening and Lisa was involved.
Lisa and I go way back.
We used to work together.
Yesterday, she called me and said that her mom had been murdered and the cops were looking at the family.
Then she asked me if I could wipe the security tape.
And did you? No.
I told her only head office has access.
Honestly, the whole thing creeped me out.
Why do you think she wanted the tape wiped? She didn't want to make herself look bad.
She bought the same coat for the 2nd time.
She bought the first one around Christmas, and then the second one a couple of weeks after.
The thing that's weirder about that is it wasn't even her size.
She's a 2XL, and all we had left was a 3XL.
She still bought it.
(STEF): That makes no sense whatsoever.
The jacket she was wearing the day of the homicide was a double XL.
I go back to the police station.
Lisa has given me a triple XL, because she knows that that jacket is clean.
I know that she's lying.
And I know that each one of her lies is gonna be that little piece of the puzzle that will put her in jail for the rest of her life.
I go over all the evidence that we gathered.
What may have been missing? - I revisit all the phone calls.
- And the one phone call that stood out was the last one that was listened to by Irene, that she owed $65 for insurance on her mortgage.
All of a sudden, that didn't make sense to me.
This is a well-off lady who doesn't have a mortgage.
How is this possible? Hey, Mel, can you play me the last message Irene heard, the one about the $65 fee? (MAN ON RECORDING): Hi! This is Duramark Insurance calling.
Our records are showing that you no longer qualify for our mortgage-free discount.
Mrs.
Carter, I'm seeing an outstanding fee for $65.
- Okay.
Thanks.
- So, if you can give the office a call, we'd really appreciate it.
Thank you.
Okay The mortgage is in Mrs.
Carter's name for $101,340.
And who took out the mortgage? - It's signed by Lisa Frei - Freihaut.
Yeah.
Can you pull up all of Mrs.
Carters' transactions this last year? Sure.
Okay For the first 4 months of 2015, not a lot of withdrawals.
Since May there's almost $200,000 in withdrawals.
Lisa had been abusing her mother financially, using her power of attorney.
Here's how I think it happened.
The last message that Irene heard was the mortgage call at 11:54 a.
m.
That's how she learned about it.
She was upset, so she called Lisa.
Then Lisa called her back at 12:28.
Irene picked up.
They fought.
Then Lisa drove out to Lethbridge, maybe to work things out like she said, or maybe she was already forming a plan.
But either way, she killed Irene.
It makes sense.
Can we arrest her? Not without something tying her directly to the crime.
- Like the murder weapon.
- Exactly.
Or her real clothes.
And I think it's time we start surveilling her.
Let's get a tracker on her car.
Done.
I don't feel I have enough for a conviction.
I need to gather more evidence against Lisa.
So I get that tracker on Lisa's vehicle, and I see that she's on the move.
We can prove that Lisa had withdrawn around $200,000 out of Irene's bank accounts.
That is a huge amount of money.
Lisa and Dean's lifestyle, it hadn't changed much over the years.
They drove older vehicles, nothing brand new, nothing fancy.
That didn't make sense to me.
Where is that money going to? What is happening with all of that money? The moment Lisa got power of attorney, she discovered a way she could access a large amount of money.
She could gamble, and nobody would know.
Yeah.
You see the blonde right over there? You know her? She's a regular.
Likes the slots.
She'll come in, drop $5,000 and leave, come back and drop another.
How long has she been coming here? I don't know, months.
(STEF): She was in a deep hole, trying to dig her way out, but only falling deeper.
It all makes sense now.
Lisa's gambling, that's my motive.
Lisa's phone was wiped.
That doesn't mean that we can't go to the cell phone company and get information from them.
They can tell us what time, what tower a cell phone was used at.
The day after the homicide on the 14th Lisa had gone to a rural area with a lot of farm fields, gravel roads.
I believed at this time that Lisa had driven up into Airdrie to get rid of evidence.
We searched for a long time.
Came up with nothing.
I decided that I needed to turn up the heat on Lisa.
Somehow, I had to find a way to get Lisa to show us a little bit of her hand.
We got a tip that you were driving around Airdrie the day after the homicide.
Well, they thought it seemed weird.
- Me? - Mm-hmm.
Oh, right.
I I got a phone call from a friend, and I picked her up outside a convenience store in Airdrie.
She, um, she was in an abusive relationship, and, uh, she needed my help.
And, uh, what's your friend's name? - Uh, Terri-Lynn.
- Terri-Lynn.
And her phone number? I don't have that.
She called me from a payphone.
Okay.
Well, um, what's her last name? Oh, I don't have that either.
We don't exchange last names.
I met her at a Gamblers Anonymous meeting.
You're a member of Gamblers Anonymous? I had a gambling addiction years ago, but that's all in the past.
I just, um I I go, uh, every now and then, uh, to be safe.
Lisa was upset.
She knows that she now has to come up with new and different stories to cover her tracks.
There was one other thing.
Yeah, um, we also got a call that you bought that pink coat multiple times? Yeah, that was for Terri-Lynn.
Oh, your friend from Gamblers Anonymous? Yeah.
I I gave her my coat.
You know, I bought her some stuff, uh, some clothes to start a new life.
So I bought a new one.
If she knows that I've learned about the jacket, that puts pressure on her.
And I want as much pressure on her as I can possibly put on her.
I want her to break.
So then, that would mean that the, uh, coat that you gave us, was not in fact the coat that you were wearing the day of the homicide.
Oh, you you know what? I think you're right.
I am so sorry.
That thought never even crossed my mind.
Lisa knows that it's starting to look more and more and more like she has committed this crime.
But I want her to keep believing that I'm eating everything up and on her side.
So I come up with a plan to get Lisa to go in front of the cameras and do a public plea for help.
If you have any information about what happened to my mom, please contact the Lethbridge Police Services.
While she's in the media room, we plant a bug in her vehicle so that we can listen to the conversation between Lisa and Dean after the press conference and for all the days coming.
This is the first time I don't get to send my mom flowers or give her a card on Mother's Day, see her beautiful garden Lisa looked like she was doing her best to try to cry.
It's another story.
It's another lie.
If you have any information Does Dean know anything about this? Or is he playing me a little bit too? I know that wasn't easy.
But, um, you both did great in there.
I'll let you know if there's any tips.
I hope it helps.
Thank you.
All right.
Oh, hey! Uh, Lisa, just one more thing.
Look, I'm really sorry, but our guys did a bit of damage on your mother's house when they were collecting forensics.
Not to worry, not to worry.
We already got an appraisal.
But we found out that there was a mortgage that she had recently taken out on the house.
Any idea why? - No.
- Okay.
Well, if anything comes to mind, uh, do let me know.
- Of course.
- I'll see you.
What? (LISA SIGHING) Aren't you gonna start the car? Your mother didn't take out that mortgage.
You did.
Tell me the truth! Okay.
- Yes, I took it out.
- Oh, Jesus! Why? To pay for Forrest's school loans.
Jesus, Lisa! What are you thinking? How are you gonna pay that money off? And why did you keep it from me? (SOBBING) Why are you yelling at me? (STEF): Dean is innocent.
God! He was being manipulated just as much as anybody.
I learned a lot about Dean.
He was as genuine as any man I've met.
To put pressure on Lisa also meant pressuring the family as well.
Irene's accounts were thriving until you took them over.
You listed medical expenses, but we know that's a lie 'cause insurance paid those.
We checked.
That's where the money was going, wasn't it? Dean didn't think you were gambling.
He trusted you, like any good husband would.
He thought you were going to rehab.
Ouch! Stef met with your son the other day.
Yeah, he asked him about your lies and who he thought killed his granny.
I asked your mother about the mortgage she took out on your grandmother's house.
You know what she said? She said it was for you.
To pay off your student loans.
Forrest has not spoken to his mom since this happened.
You never got any of that money, did you, Forrest? I know.
Why do you think she asked you to lie? (CRYING) 'Cause she thought you were gonna arrest her.
For what? Murder.
She said she didn't do it, but Your own mother asked you to lie to the police.
She also asked you to go to your grandmother's, didn't she? She told me to go to the front door.
And I just - She she told me to look in.
- I'm sorry, Forrest.
(SNIFFLING) You can let it out.
Tell me.
Tell me what you think happened.
I think my mother killed my grandma.
And I think she wanted me to find the body.
How could she do that? How could she have wanted to do that to me? (SOBBING) The moment she saw the interview with Forrest is the moment she broke.
She knew at that moment that she had to get this off her chest.
I'm so sorry for what I did and all the BS I I told you about.
You're so kind, even now.
Come clean now, Lisa.
For your family.
Help them move on.
Mom called, and, uh, she was really upset about the mortgage.
I said: "I'm coming over to see you".
I I wanted to come clean and deal with it.
- Come clean about the money.
- Yeah.
And she knew I was gambling again.
And in the past, she'd always bailed me out, but this time she was livid.
So we moved into the kitchen, and it became a screaming match.
She grabbed a knife out of the block and was yelling at me to get out of her house.
So I I grabbed the knife and, um, stabbed her, um, I don't know how many times.
I pushed her down the stairs.
I could tell she was still alive.
I should have called the cops, but I panicked.
And I banged her head against the floor.
And that's when she stopped breathing.
(SOBBING) I'm so sorry.
A lot of homicide cases, we can't answer the why.
There's no justifying any of this.
The brutality, the fear, the pain that Irene went through.
A 78-year-old grandmother, defenceless.
There's no way that anybody could wrap their head around any of this.
It's tragic in every sense.