Episode 368

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Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is
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not intended for all audiences.
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Listener discretion is advised.
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I'm too drunk to even really run.
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What do I do?
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Oh my God.
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This is actually happening right now.
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Episode 367.
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Episode 267.
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Episode 276.
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Who gives a shit?
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Will you quit correcting me? It doesn't really matter. Just
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listen to the goddamn show and enjoy it. Or don't.
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I don't care. Stop telling me things. I don't want
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to hear it. I am not having a good week.
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As you can tell. But that's not your problem. A
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duck keeps shitting in my pool, if you must know.
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I can't get rid of it. Anyway, that's not your problem.
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Let's get to some murder.
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Shall we?
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Michigan State Police Detective Chris Hayward walks into a cluttered
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interrogation room in the Van Buren office. It's been 16
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months since the body in the field was discovered back
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in November of 2022. He checks the thermostat setting and
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then starts preparing for his next interview. It's the one
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he hopes will finally explain how a dead man ended
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up in that field.
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Mr.
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Ochoa was taken into custody for what he assumes is
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a traffic violation.
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But he won't be surprised by what Detective Hayward wants
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to discuss. He's hoping Ochoa can provide all the answers.
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Yes, we're hoping to talk to you about another case,
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one of our many cases we've got going.
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It's a case that ties you into it with some DNA.
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Detective Hayward has been doing this for quite a long time.
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He's served the state of Michigan for 25 years and
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is close to retirement. This case might very well be
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his last. But his years of experience taught him a
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gentler approach to interrogation.
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It was November 3rd, 2022, when he had been called
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to a field in Van Buren County, just east of
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South Haven.
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A man had called in and said that he found
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a body while scouting for hunting locations.
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The field wasn't easy to access, not by vehicle anyway.
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The only way into the field was a muddy path
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cutting through the woods.
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Based on some of the background that we've done on you,
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I kind of have my thoughts on, we do too,
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on our thoughts on maybe how this thing went down.
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But we still got to put it together. So yeah,
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your DNA was found right there at the scene. So
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you know which one I'm talking about?
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No, sir.
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In this field, next to a large pond, was the
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body of a man. The first thing Detective Hayward noticed
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was the man's position. His body lay east to west
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directly between a set of tire tracks. Everything about the
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scene suggested that the body was dumped in that field.
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A theory further supported by the lack of shoes on
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the body. No one walks into a field in their stockings,
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especially in November. The man's t-shirt was pulled up under
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his arms, as if he'd been dragged. His clothes were
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disheveled and badly worn. It was the kind of wear
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that looked older than the night he died.
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The body was beaten and bruised.
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But the most noticeable injury was on the leg.
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His right leg was contorted in an unnatural position. It
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appeared his femur was broken. Identifying the body wasn't difficult.
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In one of his socks was his wallet, which contained
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his license. His name was LaShawn Keith. He was a 33-year-old, 310-pound,
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6'1 man, whose only relatives lived in Georgia. The only
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clues as to where he came from and who put
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him there were the light-colored sand covering his body and
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a single glove found nearby.
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You know, he said somebody that he knew needed something.
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Not like no weapon or nothing, it was just like
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gloves and all of this. And the guy that he
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was telling me about, he said he do construction, so
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I'm thinking it's for a job job.
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Hayward hadn't mentioned a glove yet, but Ochoa did. It
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was a small thing, easy to miss, except it suggested
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that Ochoa already knew exactly which piece of evidence had
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brought him into that room.
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Frankly, we know more than what we're letting on here.
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I want you to be a little more at the
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front of it because, like I said, we.
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Do have gloves. I'll lay it right out there.
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Your gloves, your DNA is right there at the scene
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on those gloves, which you brought up so you already
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knew about that because then things got dropped and left behind.
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So you already understand that that With no other explanation,
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that looks bad.
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At first, the whole scene where they found the body
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confused Detective Hayward. It seemed like a spot that you
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would have to know about to find. While forensic techs
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took impressions of the tire tracks and sent off samples
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from the gloves, Hayward tried to eliminate his first person
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of interest, the man who reported the body. His whole
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story about scouting hunting locations didn't really make sense. It
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wasn't even hunting season. Hayward interviewed him, as well as
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the people who lived nearby. He took the caller's vehicles
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and processed them for evidence. He spent the first few
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weeks of the investigation looking into this man, but eventually
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ruled him out. Now he finally had someone he knew
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was involved in front of him. Hayward continued his delicate approach.
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He didn't have to bully Ochoa. He only had to
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let him talk long enough to tell on everyone else.
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A friend of mine, he told Zach to contact me.
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So I was a little confused on it. And I
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talked to him and he said him and a buddy
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of his, and I'll be honest, this is his words.
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He said him and a buddy of his... They fucked
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up bad. And I'm like, what is you talking about?
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He said, we fucked up, fucked up. He told me
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that him and a guy got into it. He said,
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I think he was a homeless man or something like that.
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And him and his friend that he was with at
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the time.
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They had, he said they beat on him, but they
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hit him with a sledgehammer and broke his bones or
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legs or something like that.
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Don't know if that was true.
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But he said they came back the next.
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Day for work because it was over by his job site.
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He went back to see if the dude was okay,
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and he was still.
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There, like still laying there.
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Initially, the DNA profile from the glove didn't match anything
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in the combined DNA index system, otherwise known as CODIS.
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But every once in a while, they would run it again.
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It took six months before it returned a match to Ochoa.
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But by then, no one could find him.
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He said the man was dead already, and he wanted
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help moving a body or something like that. Another reason
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he asked me to help him move that was because
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he had a cast on his hand.
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I don't know what happened.
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He said, yeah, my hand broke, but he never told
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me how it broke.
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And then, I'm going to be.
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Honest with you, one night he picked me up, and
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he took me to where everything he said happened happened at.
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He showed me what we was moving.
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We had to walk down a dirt hill, like where they.
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Do road work.
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It was train tracks at the bottom of it. It
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was a dirt hill. Like the dirt was soft to
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where your foot sink into it.
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It took another nine months before detectives finally had Ochoa
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in an interrogation room. And Detective Hayward was right. He
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had a lot of answers. The more Ochoa talked, the
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more his story lined up with the evidence Hayward had
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been staring at for months. LaShawn Keith was a homeless man.
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His body was covered in soft dirt. His leg was broken.
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A sledgehammer was a new detail, but it lined up
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with the injuries discovered in the autopsy. In addition to
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a broken femur, LaShawn also had several broken ribs.
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He did have me.
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Help him move something.
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It was super heavy, but it was wrapped up.
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I did not know what it was.
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It was.
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A carpet wrapped inside of that plastic that I was
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telling you about, the plastic that's wide, like, it almost looked.
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Like it was for furniture. After a certain while, I
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wanted to know what I was moving. But yeah, as
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we was going up the.
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Hill, this side started to unravel more than I was
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able to see. Dan, I'm going to be honest with you.
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I seen something slip out. It looked like fingers. I
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believe I saw fingers. There's no way around it. I
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know what a hand looked like. We all got hands.
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I don't know what color of body changed after so
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long of.
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Being dead, but the dude's skin looked at dark when
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I seen a finger. And it didn't look like his
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skin was that color. I don't think he was supposed
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to be that color. He was like a purplish, purplish white.
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But that made my body go cold. I'm not used
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to seeing, you know, dead bodies. And I'm going to
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be honest, I threw up.
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I'll do it. What else can I do? You don't
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see shit like that every day.
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When faced with the accusation of murder, Ochoa came clean.
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He claimed a friend of a friend accidentally killed a
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homeless man, and he helped move the body. But he
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was adamant he wasn't involved in the murder.
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We went.
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We was just driving down this trail, just driving and
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driving and driving.
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And then he hit a field. And then off to
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the left, if I'm not mistaken, it was water.
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It was like a lake or something or a pond.
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In my belief, if I'm trying to believe everything you're saying,
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which I am.
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Like I said, you can do a polygraph test.
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I believe you. Just hear me out on this one point. Because, yeah,
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I believe you helped load a body and go out here.
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But it seems like you're getting hung up on not
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getting out of the truck and helping.
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No, I got out of the truck to help him
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load it onto the truck.
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Yeah.
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But he didn't ask me for help to unload the truck.
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Did you personally kill this man? No, sir. Did you
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beat him at all?
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No, sir.
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I don't have anything like that.
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He told me they did it with a sledgehammer.
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Okay.
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And it was still in his truck.
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I seen a sledgehammer in the back of his truck.
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I couldn't sleep.
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I couldn't eat.
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It was hard for me to get that image out
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of my head.
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Ochoa wasn't the end of the story. He was the beginning.
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This friend of a friend was someone he knew from
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school years ago. His name was Zachary Traynor.
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Have you ever heard of.
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Zach doing anything like this before?
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Is he that type of guy?
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See, in school, he didn't even seem like the bad
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type of person.
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I mean, yeah, you see little signs.
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Of anger issues that he had in school, but it
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wasn't nothing major to where he seemed like he was
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going to actually physically do something to somebody.
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According to Ochoa, Traynor hadn't acted alone.
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If y'all could talk.
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To the friend, he's going to say the same thing
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that I'm telling y'all. Because he seemed like he was
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too scared to help Zach.
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So who do you think he was out there drunk with?
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Who was with him? It was one of his co-workers.
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He was most likely telling the truth, but the story
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wasn't complete just yet. Now, they needed to find Zachary
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Traynor and identify this co-worker. Ochoa was the first piece
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of the puzzle.
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Now.
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They knew how LaShawn got into that field. They just
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needed to know why he was murdered in the first place.
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After a year and a half of dead ends in
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the death investigation of LaShawn Keith, a DNA match brought
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Detective Hayward, a man with answers. Ochoa only helped Zachary
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Traynor with body disposal, not murder. Finally, Detective Hayward had
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the first part of the story, but He couldn't just
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take Ochoa's word for it. I mean, would you take
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00:14:33.649 --> 00:14:36.590
the word of someone who just admitted to moving a body?
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00:14:37.570 --> 00:14:40.710
He needed a fact check, so he went to talk
253
00:14:40.750 --> 00:14:46.429
to Ochoa's baby mama. She essentially corroborated his story, even
254
00:14:46.929 --> 00:14:50.120
if a few details were slightly off. The details weren't
255
00:14:50.379 --> 00:14:54.259
really big enough to cast too much doubt on him. Besides,
256
00:14:54.879 --> 00:14:57.980
Ochoa led detectives right back to that field from a
257
00:14:58.059 --> 00:15:01.909
year and a half earlier, Now, Detective Hayward needed to
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00:15:01.990 --> 00:15:06.289
speak with Zachary Traynor and whoever this co-worker was. It
259
00:15:06.330 --> 00:15:10.100
wasn't difficult to find Zach. He lived in the small
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00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:15.059
city of Watervliet. Really small town, 20 miles south of
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00:15:15.139 --> 00:15:16.039
where the body was found.
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00:15:20.129 --> 00:15:22.639
Hey, sorry. I was just trying to get somebody to
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00:15:22.720 --> 00:15:23.279
answer the door.
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00:15:23.299 --> 00:15:24.200
Who are you?
265
00:15:24.379 --> 00:15:26.820
I'm Chris Hayward. I'm a detective with the state police.
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00:15:27.320 --> 00:15:28.039
You're Zach, right?
267
00:15:28.259 --> 00:15:28.580
Yeah.
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00:15:28.620 --> 00:15:29.320
Hey, how you doing?
269
00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:30.059
I'm good.
270
00:15:30.299 --> 00:15:33.200
All right. Listen, I was hoping to talk to you.
271
00:15:33.720 --> 00:15:36.059
There's been a complaint made against you.
272
00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:38.100
And.
273
00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:39.559
What's going on?
274
00:15:39.740 --> 00:15:41.620
Are you able to go down to talk with us
275
00:15:41.799 --> 00:15:43.960
at the Waterville Police Department?
276
00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:44.639
About what?
277
00:15:44.799 --> 00:15:47.159
About this allegation made against you. What allegation?
278
00:15:47.789 --> 00:15:49.029
I think this is something you're going to want to
279
00:15:49.049 --> 00:15:49.710
talk with me about.
280
00:15:49.730 --> 00:15:51.590
I'm going to need to hear what you're talking about.
281
00:15:52.350 --> 00:15:56.129
Okay, I'd be happy to tell you then. And I
282
00:15:56.210 --> 00:15:58.720
think it's in your best interest. This case has progressed.
283
00:15:58.820 --> 00:16:01.299
I've spent a lot of time on it. I've got everything.
284
00:16:01.320 --> 00:16:03.460
I've got the what. I guess I'm just looking to
285
00:16:03.500 --> 00:16:05.639
find out from you, you know, what kind of guy
286
00:16:05.879 --> 00:16:07.320
you are and what was going on in your head.
287
00:16:07.740 --> 00:16:09.419
But this is about the body up in the field
288
00:16:09.480 --> 00:16:11.370
in Geneva. And I know this is hitting you like
289
00:16:11.409 --> 00:16:12.850
a ton of bricks. It would do the same for me.
290
00:16:12.870 --> 00:16:15.409
I'll come with you guys. sorry.
291
00:16:15.429 --> 00:16:17.769
I don't want to be involved in this, frankly. I wish,
292
00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:19.860
I can't wait until I retire. As you can see,
293
00:16:19.879 --> 00:16:23.679
I'm getting close in this. I'm hoping to be able
294
00:16:23.720 --> 00:16:25.830
to treat this thing a little bit different because in
295
00:16:25.850 --> 00:16:28.429
all the background that I've done on you, I don't
296
00:16:28.470 --> 00:16:31.370
see you as a That kind of guy that I
297
00:16:31.450 --> 00:16:32.330
deal with so often.
298
00:16:32.350 --> 00:16:33.649
That we have to deal with so often.
299
00:16:33.690 --> 00:16:33.840
Yes, sir.
300
00:16:33.850 --> 00:16:35.049
I know what you're talking about. I hope you feel
301
00:16:35.070 --> 00:16:37.070
like I'm approaching you. I know what you're talking about.
302
00:16:37.129 --> 00:16:37.470
I do.
303
00:16:37.570 --> 00:16:38.610
So it's been weighing on you?
304
00:16:38.629 --> 00:16:38.929
He knows.
305
00:16:38.950 --> 00:16:39.929
I know.
306
00:16:40.769 --> 00:16:42.429
I know what you're talking about right now.
307
00:16:42.509 --> 00:16:43.850
I do. Okay.
308
00:16:43.889 --> 00:16:44.169
Yes.
309
00:16:44.809 --> 00:16:45.110
Okay.
310
00:16:45.269 --> 00:16:47.250
So that's the gist of it, is just to gather
311
00:16:47.970 --> 00:16:48.710
your shoes on.
312
00:16:48.850 --> 00:16:49.470
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
313
00:16:49.529 --> 00:16:50.710
Do I have to ride with you guys?
314
00:16:50.769 --> 00:16:50.950
No.
315
00:16:51.009 --> 00:16:53.629
Or drive my car? Yeah. Like I said, I'll follow
316
00:16:53.649 --> 00:16:54.269
you guys down there.
317
00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:54.750
I'll be there.
318
00:16:54.769 --> 00:16:54.879
Okay.
319
00:16:56.169 --> 00:16:59.179
The initially confrontational Zach softened as soon as he understood
320
00:16:59.220 --> 00:17:01.000
why Detective Hayward was there. His 5'11, 160-pound frame shrunk.
321
00:17:01.039 --> 00:17:02.320
He swallowed hard and took a deep breath. I imagine
322
00:17:02.340 --> 00:17:03.720
he'd been looking over his shoulder for.
323
00:17:03.779 --> 00:17:04.259
The last 16 months.
324
00:17:25.569 --> 00:17:28.950
Expecting it to happen at any moment. He admitted he
325
00:17:29.009 --> 00:17:31.930
knew what detectives were talking about and said it had
326
00:17:31.970 --> 00:17:34.849
been weighing on him. He agreed to meet them at
327
00:17:34.890 --> 00:17:39.089
the station to talk, but he wasn't arrested. Detectives pulled
328
00:17:39.109 --> 00:17:40.990
down the street and waited just to see if he
329
00:17:41.009 --> 00:17:45.410
would actually come and not try to flee. About 15
330
00:17:45.410 --> 00:17:48.599
minutes later, Zach sat down in an interview room with detectives.
331
00:17:49.619 --> 00:17:54.910
He would tell his version of events and identify his co-workers. Afterwards,
332
00:17:55.150 --> 00:17:58.279
Detective Hayward accompanied him back to his parents' house to
333
00:17:58.299 --> 00:18:01.279
break the news that the district attorney would eventually file
334
00:18:01.319 --> 00:18:05.599
charges and that he would be arrested. It was almost
335
00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:09.589
9 p.m. when he arrived. As darkness fell over the city,
336
00:18:09.769 --> 00:18:14.029
Zach broke the news to his mother, grandmother, sister, and brother-in-law.
337
00:18:14.990 --> 00:18:18.109
His grandmother didn't take the news well at all. He
338
00:18:18.150 --> 00:18:21.759
didn't tell her the specifics, but she knew it wasn't good.
339
00:18:22.920 --> 00:18:24.380
Then he pulled Zach's sister aside.
340
00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:29.940
Zach said he had confided in her in one drunken night.
341
00:18:32.519 --> 00:18:33.079
At the casino.
342
00:18:52.599 --> 00:18:55.799
Detective Hayward needed to know how much he confessed and
343
00:18:56.579 --> 00:18:57.259
if it matched.
344
00:18:58.160 --> 00:19:00.160
He and another guy wound up killing somebody.
345
00:19:00.180 --> 00:19:03.519
Okay. Did you hear about that in the casino parking
346
00:19:03.539 --> 00:19:05.140
lot or whatever he's alluding to?
347
00:19:05.160 --> 00:19:08.119
Alluded to, yes, I've heard.
348
00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:11.640
I guess what story did he tell you?
349
00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:14.579
I just know his friend that he was hanging out
350
00:19:14.599 --> 00:19:17.319
with at the time was a really bad person.
351
00:19:17.380 --> 00:19:18.380
Do you know who he is?
352
00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:19.119
Brian?
353
00:19:19.549 --> 00:19:20.400
Yeah, yeah.
354
00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:25.339
He used to work there in that area. Him and
355
00:19:25.359 --> 00:19:27.259
Brian would, you know, get into a lot of bar
356
00:19:27.299 --> 00:19:31.220
fights and stuff. They would get into shit. He says
357
00:19:31.259 --> 00:19:35.009
that he did something he had regretted with Brian, that
358
00:19:35.049 --> 00:19:36.829
Brian was like the main person.
359
00:19:36.849 --> 00:19:37.769
Okay.
360
00:19:37.769 --> 00:19:41.349
Because he knew you'd be there for him, right?
361
00:19:41.349 --> 00:19:42.789
Absolutely, yeah.
362
00:19:42.789 --> 00:19:46.170
Did he say he did something he regretted?
363
00:19:46.170 --> 00:19:49.569
He stole a hubcap off a car or he killed somebody?
364
00:19:49.589 --> 00:19:51.089
Did he get into any details.
365
00:19:50.730 --> 00:19:51.230
With you on that?
366
00:19:51.269 --> 00:19:52.589
No, he didn't tell me that.
367
00:19:52.609 --> 00:19:52.849
Okay.
368
00:19:53.650 --> 00:19:55.430
Is it me or are people getting less and less
369
00:19:55.549 --> 00:19:59.559
sensitized to the act of murder? Maybe I'm just a
370
00:19:59.579 --> 00:20:05.059
bit old. Maybe I'm old-fashioned. But if law enforcement told
371
00:20:05.099 --> 00:20:07.839
me that someone I knew had killed someone, my reaction
372
00:20:07.900 --> 00:20:11.039
wouldn't just be, Oh, well, you didn't tell me about that.
373
00:20:11.920 --> 00:20:14.930
As if it's some sort of minor detail. I mean, like,
374
00:20:14.970 --> 00:20:18.470
what the fuck? Listen, half an hour later, Detective Hayward
375
00:20:18.509 --> 00:20:21.930
was back in the interview room. This time, he was
376
00:20:21.970 --> 00:20:26.549
getting Brian Wimbley's side of the story. But sometimes, there
377
00:20:26.609 --> 00:20:30.599
are three sides to a story. Once Detective Hayward had
378
00:20:30.680 --> 00:20:34.619
both Zach and Brian's sides, he now had two versions
379
00:20:34.660 --> 00:20:38.329
of the same night. They agreed on almost everything except for,
380
00:20:38.509 --> 00:20:40.549
you know, the one thing that the critics of this
381
00:20:40.619 --> 00:20:47.210
show hate I keep talking about. Personal responsibility. So back
382
00:20:47.309 --> 00:20:51.269
in fall of 2022, Zach and Brian became something sort
383
00:20:51.309 --> 00:20:54.450
of like friends. They weren't that far apart in age,
384
00:20:54.549 --> 00:20:57.569
and both were working for the road crew doing construction
385
00:20:57.650 --> 00:21:01.569
on an overpass. That's when they first became acquainted with
386
00:21:01.789 --> 00:21:02.650
LaShawn Keith.
387
00:21:03.630 --> 00:21:08.980
And there was a Well, Sean was living under that overpass.
388
00:21:09.019 --> 00:21:10.299
He had a little.
389
00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:13.559
Impromptu campsite next to the train tracks.
390
00:21:14.660 --> 00:21:16.240
When more and more of the.
391
00:21:16.140 --> 00:21:19.289
Road crew started showing up week after week.
392
00:21:19.369 --> 00:21:20.720
He was pissed.
393
00:21:34.680 --> 00:21:38.309
Why are these people in his home? That sort of thing. Anyway,
394
00:21:38.470 --> 00:21:43.849
to LaShawn, this was his home. This piece of public property.
395
00:21:44.750 --> 00:21:46.869
And they were disturbing his peace.
396
00:21:47.390 --> 00:21:49.150
Tried to offer him a bottle of water one day
397
00:21:49.170 --> 00:21:52.710
because it was hot. And he was like, fuck you.
398
00:21:52.730 --> 00:21:57.200
And he just went off to like the violent stage.
399
00:21:57.480 --> 00:22:01.019
But one of the bosses tried to, I remember, he
400
00:22:01.039 --> 00:22:03.299
tried to give him a coat and some like pants
401
00:22:03.319 --> 00:22:06.420
because it was, Gotten cold towards the end of the
402
00:22:06.440 --> 00:22:08.829
season or whatever. It was starting to get chilly or whatever.
403
00:22:09.690 --> 00:22:13.230
And he pretty much told the boss to go fuck
404
00:22:13.250 --> 00:22:17.369
himself too. He had problems with the train guy too.
405
00:22:17.390 --> 00:22:19.539
He kept coming after the train guy. That's why the
406
00:22:19.579 --> 00:22:21.380
train guy would take one of us wood.
407
00:22:22.299 --> 00:22:26.960
Even in the face of kindness, LaShawn was combative. His antisocial,
408
00:22:27.779 --> 00:22:29.920
homeless man behavior only escalated.
409
00:22:30.470 --> 00:22:33.009
When Brian and his dad and all of them come
410
00:22:33.049 --> 00:22:33.890
down there later on.
411
00:22:33.869 --> 00:22:37.650
In the job site, he had started, like, tormenting people,
412
00:22:37.710 --> 00:22:40.289
messing with them, throwing rocks at people, stuff like that.
413
00:22:41.130 --> 00:22:43.990
Apparently, he threw rocks at Brian one day.
414
00:22:44.859 --> 00:22:48.960
Zach said LaShawn started to target Brian. But Brian said
415
00:22:48.980 --> 00:22:51.960
it was Zach who had the issue with LaShawn, and
416
00:22:51.980 --> 00:22:54.019
he didn't take death threats lightly.
417
00:22:54.599 --> 00:22:58.390
Yeah, I mean, that's... Homeless dude had issues, I guess,
418
00:22:58.410 --> 00:22:59.210
throughout the job.
419
00:22:59.269 --> 00:23:01.380
I guess he was the guy who was throwing rocks
420
00:23:01.450 --> 00:23:03.640
and stuff at him and threatening his life or whatever.
421
00:23:03.740 --> 00:23:05.480
Let me see him after work. Well, I thought it
422
00:23:05.500 --> 00:23:07.980
was just bullshit about that part, the after work part.
423
00:23:08.539 --> 00:23:13.789
The homeless guy had threatened Zach. He's like, I'll fucking
424
00:23:13.829 --> 00:23:17.849
kill you and your whole family or some shit like that.
425
00:23:17.869 --> 00:23:19.690
I remember him telling him that he was going to
426
00:23:19.730 --> 00:23:22.130
kill Zach. And then Zach's like, I'll.
427
00:23:21.970 --> 00:23:23.690
See about that. I'll see you after work and we'll
428
00:23:23.710 --> 00:23:27.279
see who ends up dead first. I didn't think that
429
00:23:27.339 --> 00:23:29.500
he was serious with that statement. Like I said, I
430
00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:31.400
thought he was just a big bullshitter.
431
00:23:32.220 --> 00:23:35.099
At the same time, Zach claimed it was Brian who
432
00:23:35.140 --> 00:23:38.440
became obsessed with teaching LaShawn a lesson.
433
00:23:39.099 --> 00:23:42.509
Brian, he's talking about how, oh, this guy, he needs
434
00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:46.410
to get an actual opinion. Hey, something needs to happen
435
00:23:46.430 --> 00:23:48.529
to him. And I was like, dude, that's like fucking
436
00:23:48.730 --> 00:23:51.329
let it go. You know, it's been like a week,
437
00:23:51.829 --> 00:23:52.150
I think.
438
00:24:05.369 --> 00:24:08.130
Whatever resentment had been building between the road crew and
439
00:24:08.170 --> 00:24:13.319
LaShawn didn't boil over immediately. Halloween came and went like
440
00:24:13.400 --> 00:24:16.900
any other work day. Earlier that evening, LaShawn walked to
441
00:24:16.920 --> 00:24:20.200
a nearby Circle K before returning beneath the bridge he
442
00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:25.250
called home. Hours later, After a night of drinking, Zach
443
00:24:25.309 --> 00:24:28.029
and Brian decided to go back and confront him.
444
00:24:28.509 --> 00:24:30.470
He decided, he's like, hey, let's go to the bar
445
00:24:30.549 --> 00:24:30.869
one night.
446
00:24:31.390 --> 00:24:32.009
I'm like, all right.
447
00:24:32.750 --> 00:24:33.089
Yeah.
448
00:24:33.829 --> 00:24:34.470
I need a DD.
449
00:24:35.430 --> 00:24:40.559
We went out on Halloween night, actually. And we got
450
00:24:41.180 --> 00:24:45.119
pretty drunk. I mean, it was about as drunk as
451
00:24:45.180 --> 00:24:48.700
we could get. And he brings up, he's like, hey,
452
00:24:48.740 --> 00:24:54.490
let's go to the job site. Let's see if he's there.
453
00:24:55.549 --> 00:24:59.650
That auspicious Halloween night, they closed down the bar. What
454
00:24:59.690 --> 00:25:03.420
a menace alcohol can be. When it came to leave,
455
00:25:03.500 --> 00:25:06.019
Zach said it was Brian's idea to go back to
456
00:25:06.059 --> 00:25:08.960
the job site, but Brian said he didn't even remember
457
00:25:09.279 --> 00:25:09.900
leaving the bar.
458
00:25:10.980 --> 00:25:15.059
I don't even really remember leaving that night. We ended
459
00:25:15.259 --> 00:25:19.160
up back at the job site, I believe. So I
460
00:25:19.160 --> 00:25:21.380
was kind of nodding off on the way there, but
461
00:25:21.400 --> 00:25:22.779
I know we ended up back.
462
00:25:22.599 --> 00:25:26.940
There Once we got there, part, we, I.
463
00:25:29.380 --> 00:25:33.430
Assumed he was just using John or something or whatever.
464
00:25:33.450 --> 00:25:39.869
And I think I remember him saying something about, I'm
465
00:25:40.130 --> 00:25:43.849
going to grab a sledgehammer. At that point, I'm drunk.
466
00:25:43.869 --> 00:25:46.069
I'm like, what the fuck am I going to get
467
00:25:46.109 --> 00:25:49.029
a sledgehammer for? We're not working right now.
468
00:25:49.089 --> 00:25:49.549
It's late.
469
00:25:49.750 --> 00:25:50.690
We just went to the bar.
470
00:25:50.710 --> 00:25:51.950
There's no way in hell.
471
00:25:51.890 --> 00:25:54.450
I'm doing anything if the boss asked right now.
472
00:25:54.470 --> 00:25:56.299
Like, I'm gonna tell him I'm drunk and I'm not
473
00:25:56.319 --> 00:26:00.559
gonna be able to do it. And then of course,
474
00:26:01.640 --> 00:26:03.359
I follow him down the hill.
475
00:26:03.380 --> 00:26:05.680
We walked down the hill and.
476
00:26:05.599 --> 00:26:12.319
He had his claw hammer. It was this blue and
477
00:26:12.359 --> 00:26:15.400
like black grip on it. I mean, it was a
478
00:26:15.420 --> 00:26:19.119
claw hammer. And I remember because he lost it out
479
00:26:19.160 --> 00:26:21.960
there somewhere. and he was freaking out about it the
480
00:26:21.980 --> 00:26:22.339
whole way home.
481
00:26:23.500 --> 00:26:26.420
Each man said the other had a problem with LeSean.
482
00:26:27.500 --> 00:26:30.099
Then they said it was the other's idea to go
483
00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:33.279
back to the job site that night. They both said
484
00:26:33.319 --> 00:26:36.779
it was the other one with the hammer. It's no
485
00:26:36.839 --> 00:26:40.609
surprise that each said the other was the first to
486
00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:45.670
approach LeSean. These are basically two murderers who have no
487
00:26:45.730 --> 00:26:50.369
loyalty to anything or anyone. If you don't respect human life,
488
00:26:51.329 --> 00:26:54.910
even if it's someone that's of no use to society,
489
00:26:55.910 --> 00:26:58.650
then you yourself are probably the bigger problem.
490
00:26:59.269 --> 00:27:02.210
Brian walked over there and he was like, hey, I
491
00:27:02.230 --> 00:27:05.809
know you're fucking awake. He took his hammer and he
492
00:27:05.869 --> 00:27:09.009
swung at him and I think he made contact with something.
493
00:27:09.029 --> 00:27:11.750
I mean, it sounded pretty loud and the guy jumped up,
494
00:27:11.769 --> 00:27:12.730
I mean, right away.
495
00:27:13.289 --> 00:27:15.990
But from Brian's perspective, that was all Zach.
496
00:27:16.730 --> 00:27:19.000
Because I kind of like stayed back a little bit
497
00:27:19.059 --> 00:27:22.920
once i realized he was walking towards the barrel where
498
00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:26.759
the dude was sleeping he uh walked over and he
499
00:27:26.799 --> 00:27:29.599
like he takes the hammer.
500
00:27:30.220 --> 00:27:34.279
Wake up motherfuckers bam i said get the fuck up
501
00:27:35.569 --> 00:27:38.950
and uh definitely like he smacked the barrel a couple
502
00:27:38.990 --> 00:27:40.849
times tell him get the fuck.
503
00:27:40.710 --> 00:27:42.950
Up with his hand or with.
504
00:27:42.410 --> 00:27:45.480
The hammer he smacked it with the hammer The guy
505
00:27:45.519 --> 00:27:47.259
gets out, like, you know, he.
506
00:27:47.240 --> 00:27:49.460
Gets out, and he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, like, what
507
00:27:49.480 --> 00:27:52.259
the hell? He's like, remember me? You told me to
508
00:27:52.279 --> 00:27:53.099
meet you after work.
509
00:27:53.119 --> 00:27:53.640
Well, I'm here.
510
00:27:53.680 --> 00:27:54.220
Well, it's good.
511
00:27:54.259 --> 00:27:56.940
What's going on? Starts yelling at the guy, and the
512
00:27:56.980 --> 00:27:59.000
guy gets out and, like, bumps up to him.
513
00:28:00.200 --> 00:28:04.700
They got in each other's face, and then next thing
514
00:28:04.720 --> 00:28:08.339
you know, Zach kind of, like, pushed him a little bit,
515
00:28:08.420 --> 00:28:10.900
and he kind of, you know, your reaction is to
516
00:28:10.920 --> 00:28:14.200
push back when you're pushed. So the guy pushed him back,
517
00:28:14.319 --> 00:28:17.640
and then And they're kind of like pushing whatever is
518
00:28:17.700 --> 00:28:20.579
getting heated. I'm like, all right, ain't too bad, ain't
519
00:28:20.599 --> 00:28:22.529
too bad. I still don't know why he has the hammer.
520
00:28:23.069 --> 00:28:26.410
And then they got closer to the tracks. And I'm like,
521
00:28:26.470 --> 00:28:28.930
like I said, I'm probably 20, 30 foot away from them.
522
00:28:29.029 --> 00:28:30.150
Just keeping my distance.
523
00:28:31.230 --> 00:28:33.529
This is the part where their stories start to diverge
524
00:28:33.819 --> 00:28:38.240
the most. Who was the first person to assault this
525
00:28:38.319 --> 00:28:39.000
homeless man?
526
00:28:39.619 --> 00:28:40.299
He was here.
527
00:28:40.839 --> 00:28:43.319
And they were coming towards me, so I went this
528
00:28:43.400 --> 00:28:47.039
way and kind of hid by some bushes. And that's
529
00:28:47.079 --> 00:28:52.910
when I heard that first crack. And I'm like, that
530
00:28:52.930 --> 00:28:55.950
did not sound like a fist. That was a solid
531
00:28:56.049 --> 00:28:58.930
hard hit. I heard the dude ask for air after
532
00:28:58.990 --> 00:29:01.890
I heard the sledgehammer smack him.
533
00:29:02.710 --> 00:29:04.009
I'm assuming in the chest.
534
00:29:04.750 --> 00:29:07.210
Brian said he watched from a safe distance as a
535
00:29:07.339 --> 00:29:12.269
shoving match ensued. But Zach said Brian was the one
536
00:29:12.410 --> 00:29:14.700
in a rage-filled frenzy.
537
00:29:14.720 --> 00:29:18.519
Zach said he stood by as something of a referee.
538
00:29:37.980 --> 00:29:42.200
While Brian taught LaShawn a lesson. Regardless of who the
539
00:29:42.259 --> 00:29:46.519
aggressor was, the violence of the confrontation only grew. And
540
00:29:46.980 --> 00:29:48.059
no referee stopped it.
541
00:29:48.619 --> 00:29:50.799
So the guy, you know, he picked the hammer up
542
00:29:51.079 --> 00:29:52.759
and he tried swinging it.
543
00:29:52.740 --> 00:29:53.829
At us, hitting us.
544
00:29:54.440 --> 00:29:57.549
Because, all right, for your life at that point, you know,
545
00:29:57.569 --> 00:30:02.440
you don't know what's going to happen. I punched him
546
00:30:02.880 --> 00:30:04.400
because I was like, I'm not supposed to get hit
547
00:30:04.420 --> 00:30:07.000
by this fucking hammer. And when I punched him, I
548
00:30:07.039 --> 00:30:10.660
connected wrong. I hit something around here, and my pinky
549
00:30:11.039 --> 00:30:12.119
hit him up into.
550
00:30:11.960 --> 00:30:14.619
His tooth, and I broke my hand.
551
00:30:15.529 --> 00:30:19.150
Okay. So I was very pissed when I broke my hand.
552
00:30:19.690 --> 00:30:21.470
So I took the hammer, and I fucking took it,
553
00:30:21.470 --> 00:30:23.390
and I swung down his ribs. I took it out
554
00:30:23.430 --> 00:30:26.049
of his hand. I hurt him to the ribs, and
555
00:30:26.750 --> 00:30:27.670
I dropped the hammer.
556
00:30:27.730 --> 00:30:33.970
I walked away because I was like, Zach said he
557
00:30:34.009 --> 00:30:38.170
was a reluctant participant, only there to watch Brian's back.
558
00:30:39.269 --> 00:30:41.430
But when he got involved, he broke his hand and
559
00:30:41.549 --> 00:30:45.059
cracked LaShawn's ribs. So, there's that.
560
00:30:46.539 --> 00:30:51.799
They were kind of both tussling a little bit, and.
561
00:30:57.589 --> 00:31:00.130
He yelled for my help because he started to fall.
562
00:31:01.910 --> 00:31:04.990
And of course I come out of the spot I
563
00:31:05.029 --> 00:31:10.119
didn't want to come out of. And the guy came
564
00:31:10.220 --> 00:31:12.819
at me once I got over there. Me being a
565
00:31:12.859 --> 00:31:17.079
littler guy, I definitely started to get scared because, well,
566
00:31:17.119 --> 00:31:21.339
he's coming at me now. Zach had gotten my hammer
567
00:31:21.440 --> 00:31:24.339
out of the truck as well as his sledgehammer. I
568
00:31:24.380 --> 00:31:28.900
did not even know that he had had my hammer
569
00:31:29.069 --> 00:31:29.970
out in the first place.
570
00:31:30.750 --> 00:31:34.190
The hammers were central to both sides, but they changed
571
00:31:34.269 --> 00:31:36.930
hands depending on who was telling the story.
572
00:31:37.549 --> 00:31:40.369
Pulled out my hammer and was like, here, and threw
573
00:31:40.450 --> 00:31:43.029
it at somebody, and I'm like, oh.
574
00:31:43.049 --> 00:31:43.519
Oh, God.
575
00:31:44.549 --> 00:31:47.950
Brian said Zach yelled for help. LaShawn was getting the
576
00:31:47.990 --> 00:31:51.049
best of him. He said Zach tossed him his own hammer,
577
00:31:51.829 --> 00:31:55.950
and that's when LaShawn came at him. He must have
578
00:31:55.970 --> 00:31:56.670
been so scared.
579
00:31:57.319 --> 00:32:01.180
So I freak out and kind of like went for
580
00:32:01.200 --> 00:32:04.279
his legs, tried to take his legs, knock him out
581
00:32:04.319 --> 00:32:07.019
so he wouldn't come at me. I mean, I got
582
00:32:07.039 --> 00:32:10.029
a guy that's a giant compared to me coming at me.
583
00:32:10.069 --> 00:32:15.329
Like, I didn't want to. And it just kind of
584
00:32:16.210 --> 00:32:18.829
got worse from there. I know.
585
00:32:18.849 --> 00:32:20.890
I know it was a melee.
586
00:32:21.829 --> 00:32:22.230
A what?
587
00:32:22.970 --> 00:32:26.779
A melee is like a hustle where everybody's... Elbows and
588
00:32:26.859 --> 00:32:28.019
assholes all over the place.
589
00:32:28.059 --> 00:32:29.460
You know what I mean?
590
00:32:30.500 --> 00:32:36.009
Elbows and assholes. Never heard that one before. It's almost
591
00:32:36.029 --> 00:32:41.950
like poetry. In addition to having a small vocabulary, Brian
592
00:32:41.990 --> 00:32:45.329
was a man of small stature. He was only 5
593
00:32:45.329 --> 00:32:47.509
feet 4 inches tall and 120 pounds. When LaShawn, a
594
00:32:47.509 --> 00:32:49.819
310 pound 6 foot 1 man, came at Brian.
595
00:32:54.869 --> 00:32:56.190
He just swung the hammer.
596
00:32:56.849 --> 00:33:00.589
Got him in the leg with the hammer. The guy,
597
00:33:00.630 --> 00:33:03.309
you know, obviously, when we were doing that, he did
598
00:33:03.329 --> 00:33:05.269
kind of like buckle as he buckled down.
599
00:33:05.309 --> 00:33:07.470
Zach came over, tackled him down.
600
00:33:07.849 --> 00:33:09.390
Bam, bam, bam.
601
00:33:09.450 --> 00:33:12.539
Started hitting him. The guy ended up kicking me in
602
00:33:12.599 --> 00:33:17.180
my chest a couple times. Really good. And I kind
603
00:33:17.200 --> 00:33:21.119
of went into a fog. Kind of like a blackout.
604
00:33:21.220 --> 00:33:24.339
I kind of blacked out because, I don't know... I'm
605
00:33:24.440 --> 00:33:31.460
assuming it got worse, and I don't even fully know
606
00:33:31.579 --> 00:33:32.980
too much after.
607
00:33:32.640 --> 00:33:37.779
I blacked out. I'm not even really sure.
608
00:33:37.799 --> 00:33:40.180
When he got on the train tracks, was when he
609
00:33:40.200 --> 00:33:42.380
actually hit it hard enough that he was able to fall?
610
00:33:42.880 --> 00:33:43.000
Okay.
611
00:33:43.059 --> 00:33:45.339
And that was the degree of dynamite in his body
612
00:33:45.380 --> 00:33:47.960
that caused him to fall, if you remember?
613
00:33:47.980 --> 00:33:49.740
It was, like, his lower knee.
614
00:33:49.849 --> 00:33:50.410
Okay. Right.
615
00:33:50.450 --> 00:33:51.910
Hit it hard enough.
616
00:33:53.970 --> 00:33:56.380
Do you remember telling him about it or something? I mean,
617
00:33:57.099 --> 00:34:01.559
I moved the guy's leg and completely washed it.
618
00:34:02.299 --> 00:34:05.740
Leshawn let out a blood-curdling scream when Brian hit him
619
00:34:05.779 --> 00:34:10.500
in the leg. Zach pantomimed to detectives what Leshawn's leg
620
00:34:10.539 --> 00:34:13.489
looked like after Brian hit him with the hammer. He
621
00:34:13.550 --> 00:34:17.269
wiggles his limp hand in the air. Brian had broken
622
00:34:17.349 --> 00:34:21.269
Leshawn's femur clean through and turned his leg into jelly.
623
00:34:21.289 --> 00:34:23.510
And when the guy was on the ground or whatever,
624
00:34:24.599 --> 00:34:26.099
You know, I told him, I was like, all right.
625
00:34:26.119 --> 00:34:28.400
I was like, get the fuck up and leave. You know,
626
00:34:28.420 --> 00:34:30.400
I was like, this is enough of this shit.
627
00:34:30.420 --> 00:34:35.159
This is done. And he did get up and he started, like, running.
628
00:34:36.079 --> 00:34:38.909
And he was, like, hobbling, trying to run away, you know,
629
00:34:38.929 --> 00:34:41.530
on one leg. And I was letting him go. I
630
00:34:41.570 --> 00:34:44.670
turned around going the other way. And Brian went.
631
00:34:44.650 --> 00:34:46.630
And picked the hammer up and he chased him. And
632
00:34:46.670 --> 00:34:48.110
he went and he just hit him in the back
633
00:34:48.130 --> 00:34:50.030
of the head. He just hit him. He just keep
634
00:34:50.090 --> 00:34:53.460
fucking beating him. And I listen to that. He's just screaming,
635
00:34:53.500 --> 00:34:54.139
somebody help me.
636
00:34:54.199 --> 00:34:56.610
And I'm walking the other way, fucking throwing my hands
637
00:34:56.679 --> 00:34:59.190
up and down, like covering my ears.
638
00:34:59.210 --> 00:35:01.570
I don't want to hear this man begging for someone
639
00:35:01.590 --> 00:35:02.610
to stop beating him.
640
00:35:03.349 --> 00:35:06.449
This guy puts his hands over his ears and goes, la, la, la, la, la, la, la,
641
00:35:07.530 --> 00:35:10.949
while a homeless man is being murdered in front of him.
642
00:35:11.949 --> 00:35:15.369
I mean, what a fucking pussy. What a piece of shit.
643
00:35:16.150 --> 00:35:19.769
What is this, Clockwork Orange? Was Kubrick right about society?
644
00:35:20.820 --> 00:35:24.039
What is wrong with people? How do you put your
645
00:35:24.079 --> 00:35:27.239
hands on someone who just hurt your feelings with words,
646
00:35:27.699 --> 00:35:30.219
you know? Even if it's a threat. It's just a
647
00:35:30.280 --> 00:35:34.460
fucking threat. It's just letters strung together in a sound
648
00:35:34.539 --> 00:35:37.139
that comes out of your mouth. It doesn't hurt you
649
00:35:37.579 --> 00:35:42.079
unless you let it. Unless you're a weak, sensitive bitch.
650
00:35:43.159 --> 00:35:45.679
You don't put your hands on someone just because they
651
00:35:45.699 --> 00:35:50.639
hurt your feelings. That's not how society works. And I
652
00:35:50.659 --> 00:35:54.239
keep seeing more and more examples of this in general.
653
00:35:55.380 --> 00:35:59.429
LaShawn had several broken ribs and a broken leg. He
654
00:35:59.469 --> 00:36:02.349
was lying on the ground, begging for the beating to stop.
655
00:36:02.510 --> 00:36:05.769
But Zach and Brian got a few more licks in.
656
00:36:06.369 --> 00:36:10.130
So he's down at this point, then? Is he begging
657
00:36:10.230 --> 00:36:11.829
for help? I'm pleased you guys saw that.
658
00:36:11.849 --> 00:36:12.789
He's like, yeah.
659
00:36:13.010 --> 00:36:17.550
Okay, well, as he was remembering, begging, please don't touch
660
00:36:17.570 --> 00:36:17.829
me anymore.
661
00:36:18.139 --> 00:36:18.590
The doctor, I mean.
662
00:36:19.559 --> 00:36:23.389
He's like, please just stop. Did you both stop? I did.
663
00:36:23.750 --> 00:36:26.829
Brian hit him a few more times because he was
664
00:36:26.869 --> 00:36:28.610
fisted with a hammer because.
665
00:36:28.349 --> 00:36:31.150
He kept telling me, he said, I'm demanding respect from you.
666
00:36:31.190 --> 00:36:33.349
He goes, you don't get the point. I want respect.
667
00:36:33.449 --> 00:36:36.769
I don't want anything else. I want respect. And that's
668
00:36:36.809 --> 00:36:37.789
what he kept repeating.
669
00:36:38.429 --> 00:36:41.159
Brian, though, said Zach was the one to land the
670
00:36:41.219 --> 00:36:41.960
final blow.
671
00:36:42.739 --> 00:36:45.860
I realized that Zach was at this point on top
672
00:36:45.920 --> 00:36:46.239
of him.
673
00:36:46.719 --> 00:36:46.980
Okay.
674
00:36:47.880 --> 00:36:51.590
Literally just And then it was over. The melee had
675
00:36:51.630 --> 00:36:52.989
come to an end.
676
00:36:53.090 --> 00:36:56.449
The pair left LaShawn lying on the ground next to
677
00:36:56.530 --> 00:36:57.050
the train tracks.
678
00:37:17.489 --> 00:37:22.329
That's when the enormity of what just happened hit Zach. Apparently,
679
00:37:22.849 --> 00:37:26.449
he can't think when he's angry. Seriously, what has happened
680
00:37:26.510 --> 00:37:31.269
to men? Why are we such emotionally weak trash these days?
681
00:37:32.130 --> 00:37:33.710
Because I told him, I said, look, I said, you
682
00:37:33.849 --> 00:37:36.280
killed this guy. I said, believe it or not, I said,
683
00:37:36.300 --> 00:37:37.739
you're going to kill him. I said, look at the
684
00:37:37.760 --> 00:37:40.780
fucking knife leaving his body right now. He was like,
685
00:37:40.880 --> 00:37:41.800
oh no, he's fine.
686
00:37:41.820 --> 00:37:42.360
I said, no.
687
00:37:42.440 --> 00:37:44.500
I said, watch the heat leave his body.
688
00:37:44.519 --> 00:37:47.039
I said, you just killed him. So.
689
00:37:47.829 --> 00:37:50.210
We went to the gas station. I bought the guy
690
00:37:50.570 --> 00:37:55.130
two Gatorades and some food. He drank one of the Gatorades,
691
00:37:55.550 --> 00:37:56.349
ate some of the chips.
692
00:37:56.369 --> 00:37:58.030
Oh, you brought him right.
693
00:37:57.969 --> 00:37:59.809
Back to him? Yeah, I brought him right back.
694
00:38:00.349 --> 00:38:02.849
Do they teach that in med school? All you need
695
00:38:02.869 --> 00:38:05.139
to bring the dead back to life after a hammer
696
00:38:05.340 --> 00:38:07.280
to the back of the head is some gas station
697
00:38:07.300 --> 00:38:10.500
snacks and the Gatorade. A thirst quencher.
698
00:38:11.099 --> 00:38:11.980
Was he awake?
699
00:38:12.000 --> 00:38:14.460
He was awake. Yeah, he was awake and he.
700
00:38:14.420 --> 00:38:17.019
Was talking to me. He drank the Gatorade in front
701
00:38:17.199 --> 00:38:20.389
of me. Was he in pain? He was definitely in pain.
702
00:38:20.710 --> 00:38:22.840
What did he tell you hurt? Everything.
703
00:38:23.429 --> 00:38:27.019
He said he couldn't feel his lower half of his body.
704
00:38:27.480 --> 00:38:27.920
Okay.
705
00:38:29.119 --> 00:38:32.960
He was just like, you know, I'm going to try
706
00:38:32.980 --> 00:38:33.500
and make it.
707
00:38:33.519 --> 00:38:35.119
I'm going to try and do good. He said, I'm
708
00:38:35.159 --> 00:38:38.059
going to try and make it. Okay. I told him,
709
00:38:38.099 --> 00:38:42.280
I was like, you're going to, you know. Okay. Just,
710
00:38:42.679 --> 00:38:44.130
you know, knowing I'm lying.
711
00:38:48.659 --> 00:38:49.949
Well, you could have called an ambulance.
712
00:38:50.610 --> 00:38:54.969
Holy shit, this guy's dumb. Seriously, criminals are dumb as hell.
713
00:38:56.070 --> 00:39:00.329
That's why they're criminals. They never think to call an ambulance.
714
00:39:00.409 --> 00:39:04.170
I mean, if they had, they'd be in far less trouble.
715
00:39:05.210 --> 00:39:08.190
Unless he died, of course. But he could have lived,
716
00:39:08.670 --> 00:39:12.280
if only they had sought medical help. Instead, they got
717
00:39:12.300 --> 00:39:15.360
him a bag of chips and a Gatorade. What a
718
00:39:15.440 --> 00:39:16.400
bunch of nincompoops.
719
00:39:17.460 --> 00:39:19.059
Since when we left, I don't know.
720
00:39:19.079 --> 00:39:23.349
I thought the guy was still walking around, unless I knew.
721
00:39:23.369 --> 00:39:26.210
Like I said, I was drunk too, so he might
722
00:39:26.230 --> 00:39:28.630
not have been standing or walking or anything, but as
723
00:39:29.230 --> 00:39:29.969
far as I remember.
724
00:39:30.530 --> 00:39:33.139
he was still up and moving.
725
00:39:33.840 --> 00:39:37.980
LaShawn was alive, but badly injured. He lay on the ground,
726
00:39:38.320 --> 00:39:41.239
unable to feel his lower half, while Zach gave him
727
00:39:41.300 --> 00:39:45.460
a pep talk. Brian just assumed he'd be fine. But
728
00:39:45.480 --> 00:39:48.280
did the two intend to kill him, or just give
729
00:39:48.320 --> 00:39:49.039
him an ass-beating?
730
00:39:49.590 --> 00:39:53.250
My intention was not to kill anybody.
731
00:39:53.550 --> 00:39:55.010
That was not my intention.
732
00:39:55.130 --> 00:40:00.610
I wanted, yes, to hurt him and be like, here's
733
00:40:01.170 --> 00:40:02.170
your lesson.
734
00:40:02.530 --> 00:40:04.719
Some people are not to be fucked with in this world,
735
00:40:04.880 --> 00:40:08.360
but it was never my intention to kill somebody.
736
00:40:08.380 --> 00:40:12.059
From what you've described, it kind of sounds like an
737
00:40:13.139 --> 00:40:16.159
ass-beating gone wrong, but I don't know how you would
738
00:40:17.460 --> 00:40:18.659
characterize it, you know?
739
00:40:19.199 --> 00:40:23.530
I mean, it was never my intent to take anyone's life.
740
00:40:24.289 --> 00:40:26.530
That was never the goal. You know, that's what I thought.
741
00:40:26.550 --> 00:40:28.690
I said, you know, I want to, you know, beat
742
00:40:28.730 --> 00:40:31.190
this guy's ass at a point across. I don't fuck
743
00:40:31.210 --> 00:40:31.730
with people.
744
00:40:32.469 --> 00:40:32.769
Yes.
745
00:40:33.269 --> 00:40:35.210
Do I want to fucking take someone's life?
746
00:40:35.250 --> 00:40:35.570
Never.
747
00:40:36.130 --> 00:40:36.849
You know.
748
00:40:37.630 --> 00:40:42.170
But Brian said, So you guys are, went there, but
749
00:40:42.190 --> 00:40:44.760
you went there to have a confrontation with this guy.
750
00:40:45.300 --> 00:40:45.460
Right?
751
00:40:45.500 --> 00:40:45.679
Right.
752
00:40:46.329 --> 00:40:49.670
Mainly at him because it was time to send a
753
00:40:50.130 --> 00:40:53.409
message to him I guess did you set out with
754
00:40:53.449 --> 00:40:55.750
the idea in your mind because this is the important
755
00:40:55.789 --> 00:41:00.880
part did you intend to kill him no that's the
756
00:41:00.909 --> 00:41:02.260
critically important part.
757
00:41:02.179 --> 00:41:06.039
Absolutely not not even a slight I couldn't imagine killing
758
00:41:06.099 --> 00:41:08.880
I can't even kill a possum or a squirrel or
759
00:41:08.900 --> 00:41:12.619
a coon that's in a cage to your.
760
00:41:12.519 --> 00:41:15.519
Knowledge did Zach go there to try to kill him.
761
00:41:16.320 --> 00:41:19.840
I mean, I would think so, just from the conversation
762
00:41:19.880 --> 00:41:21.940
that happened earlier that day.
763
00:41:22.059 --> 00:41:23.900
I mean, from you riding her out of there, did
764
00:41:23.940 --> 00:41:25.039
he say, we're going to kill that guy, or did
765
00:41:25.059 --> 00:41:25.780
he say, we're going to give.
766
00:41:25.699 --> 00:41:26.179
Him a beating?
767
00:41:26.199 --> 00:41:27.539
He said, we're going to kick his ass.
768
00:41:27.559 --> 00:41:29.699
Okay, that's not... That's what I was under the... Okay.
769
00:41:29.780 --> 00:41:33.039
I don't have to understand you. That's as far as
770
00:41:33.099 --> 00:41:33.960
it was going to go.
771
00:41:34.699 --> 00:41:39.340
Whether they intended to kill LaShawn or not didn't really matter,
772
00:41:40.320 --> 00:41:44.239
because he was still dead. Of course, they wouldn't realize
773
00:41:44.260 --> 00:41:45.619
this until they returned to work.
774
00:41:46.409 --> 00:41:49.829
I remember waking up at home the next day. I
775
00:41:49.829 --> 00:41:51.190
knew something.
776
00:41:51.210 --> 00:41:53.630
When I woke up, I could just tell something wasn't
777
00:41:53.750 --> 00:41:55.860
right because we woke up, went back to work the
778
00:41:55.889 --> 00:41:59.559
next day. Me and the train guy, I helped the
779
00:41:59.579 --> 00:42:02.000
train guy, helped him take the.
780
00:42:03.119 --> 00:42:05.239
Derailleurs off, off the tracks.
781
00:42:06.440 --> 00:42:10.519
And we go back down there, and we're walking, and
782
00:42:10.719 --> 00:42:15.090
we seen the guy laying there. And me and the
783
00:42:15.139 --> 00:42:20.820
train guy both said, man, he's not moving.
784
00:42:20.860 --> 00:42:22.800
He's just, maybe he's sleeping.
785
00:42:22.820 --> 00:42:23.239
So I don't.
786
00:42:24.599 --> 00:42:26.440
Know if he's still there or not.
787
00:42:26.539 --> 00:42:27.400
I don't know.
788
00:42:28.300 --> 00:42:30.260
The train guy was going to call the cops if
789
00:42:30.300 --> 00:42:34.300
LaShawn was still there the next day. So when Brian
790
00:42:34.340 --> 00:42:37.059
saw he hadn't moved, he went to find Zach.
791
00:42:37.559 --> 00:42:40.320
Because I walked up to him after walking back, and
792
00:42:40.360 --> 00:42:43.280
I'm like, dude, that dude's not moving.
793
00:42:44.219 --> 00:42:45.590
And he goes, yeah, I know. I looked.
794
00:42:45.949 --> 00:42:47.849
I felt his pulse. And you don't have a pulse.
795
00:42:47.889 --> 00:42:48.449
He's dead.
796
00:42:48.469 --> 00:42:50.630
And I'm like, what? He's dead?
797
00:42:51.769 --> 00:42:54.789
This seems to be the moment that Brian suddenly realized
798
00:42:55.130 --> 00:42:59.980
the seriousness of what they had done. Hindsight is always 20-20,
799
00:43:00.059 --> 00:43:04.920
but sometimes if you're this dumb, you're just fucking blind.
800
00:43:05.940 --> 00:43:09.940
You're just an automaton acting on just emotion alone with
801
00:43:10.019 --> 00:43:13.769
zero impulse control. I don't think you're even human. At
802
00:43:13.809 --> 00:43:18.110
that point. They're just a walking, large language learning model.
803
00:43:19.460 --> 00:43:20.179
And not a good one.
804
00:43:21.639 --> 00:43:22.800
I don't even know.
805
00:43:22.880 --> 00:43:24.480
Did he try to get you to go back out
806
00:43:24.500 --> 00:43:24.840
and help?
807
00:43:26.079 --> 00:43:28.119
He did, and I'm like, I don't want no part
808
00:43:28.139 --> 00:43:28.699
of that.
809
00:43:29.159 --> 00:43:34.250
I can't even mentally bring in the fact that this
810
00:43:34.329 --> 00:43:37.570
is a real situation right now. I've only seen this
811
00:43:37.690 --> 00:43:40.030
on crime shows, and I don't even like to watch
812
00:43:40.070 --> 00:43:42.250
them because it just turns my gut.
813
00:43:42.960 --> 00:43:45.760
Aw, poor little baby can't watch true crime shows because
814
00:43:45.780 --> 00:43:46.480
they're too scary.
815
00:43:46.539 --> 00:43:50.619
He said, I didn't move by the next day.
816
00:43:50.679 --> 00:43:51.960
He was going to call the police and get him
817
00:43:52.000 --> 00:43:55.980
out there. So that's when I told Brian, I said, look,
818
00:43:56.960 --> 00:43:59.889
I said, we got to do something. He said he
819
00:43:59.909 --> 00:44:05.710
cannot stay sitting on these tracks. Brian would not help
820
00:44:05.809 --> 00:44:08.230
me deal with that situation.
821
00:44:13.860 --> 00:44:17.719
Brian immediately started to distance himself from the situation and
822
00:44:17.760 --> 00:44:21.219
from Zach. He refused to help Zach move the body,
823
00:44:21.960 --> 00:44:22.280
he said.
824
00:44:23.099 --> 00:44:29.000
Zach called his closest friends.
825
00:44:39.610 --> 00:44:42.510
A man who had since moved to Florida, of course.
826
00:44:43.750 --> 00:44:46.289
And this friend hooked him up with Ochoa.
827
00:44:46.969 --> 00:44:51.590
Saturday, we come back, and he was in orders to
828
00:44:51.630 --> 00:44:54.389
be found. He was gone.
829
00:44:55.070 --> 00:44:57.170
So what happened to the body then?
830
00:44:57.210 --> 00:44:59.050
He said him and one of his buddies.
831
00:44:59.070 --> 00:45:00.329
Did he tell you who it was?
832
00:45:00.710 --> 00:45:02.949
He wouldn't give me a name at all, so I
833
00:45:02.969 --> 00:45:04.800
don't even have the slightest clue.
834
00:45:05.880 --> 00:45:06.440
He's like.
835
00:45:06.480 --> 00:45:09.639
And then the next day... He showed up at the house.
836
00:45:09.679 --> 00:45:12.329
He goes, the guy is gone. And I'm like, what
837
00:45:12.630 --> 00:45:15.429
do you mean he's gone? He goes, we dissolved him.
838
00:45:16.469 --> 00:45:18.909
You dissolved him? What do you mean you dissolved him?
839
00:45:19.730 --> 00:45:20.829
Like, I don't get your concept.
840
00:45:20.889 --> 00:45:24.550
He was like, we covered him in acids and ate
841
00:45:25.010 --> 00:45:26.110
his body alive.
842
00:45:26.929 --> 00:45:30.050
Brian didn't help move the body and didn't help Zach
843
00:45:30.110 --> 00:45:34.190
pay Ochoa either. In the weeks and months to follow,
844
00:45:34.250 --> 00:45:39.590
the two separated. Brian lost Zach's number and Zach eventually
845
00:45:39.650 --> 00:45:42.429
gave up on getting Brian to pay his half of
846
00:45:42.489 --> 00:45:47.429
the money for Ochoa. They stopped talking completely. They built
847
00:45:47.510 --> 00:45:51.719
separate lives, but neither man ever managed to leave that
848
00:45:51.800 --> 00:45:54.480
night beneath the bridge behind.
849
00:45:55.360 --> 00:45:59.800
Has this affected you personally, mentally?
850
00:45:59.820 --> 00:46:04.710
I mean, it shows the way that I think about
851
00:46:05.369 --> 00:46:08.739
life in general, you know, like So.
852
00:46:08.579 --> 00:46:12.619
As the parents say, you've been living through some hell. Yeah.
853
00:46:13.280 --> 00:46:16.420
Yeah. Always have it in your mind. You can close
854
00:46:16.460 --> 00:46:18.980
your eyes at night and see someone begging for their life.
855
00:46:19.940 --> 00:46:21.519
Like, I feel so bad about it. I've been at
856
00:46:21.539 --> 00:46:21.980
the church.
857
00:46:22.579 --> 00:46:23.159
Okay.
858
00:46:23.179 --> 00:46:25.079
Way more than I, I mean, I'm there every Sunday.
859
00:46:25.159 --> 00:46:26.019
I talk to my pastor.
860
00:46:26.079 --> 00:46:30.289
I was like, Pastor, there's something on my mind that's
861
00:46:30.329 --> 00:46:33.550
not good. I said, I need help getting, not getting
862
00:46:33.570 --> 00:46:34.929
over it, but I need help with.
863
00:46:34.769 --> 00:46:52.260
Like, like, You heard that, right? He was about to
864
00:46:52.320 --> 00:46:54.090
say he tried to get a pastor to help him
865
00:46:54.829 --> 00:46:58.090
get over it before he realized just how bad that
866
00:46:58.130 --> 00:47:03.630
sounded out loud and corrected himself. Remember, people will always
867
00:47:04.030 --> 00:47:06.929
tell you who they really are if you pay close
868
00:47:06.969 --> 00:47:16.739
enough attention. By the end of the interviews, Detective Hayward
869
00:47:16.860 --> 00:47:21.340
heard the same story twice. Both men agreed on almost everything.
870
00:47:22.099 --> 00:47:24.599
They both admitted to their roles while trying to shift
871
00:47:24.659 --> 00:47:28.469
blame onto the other. But one thing wasn't in dispute.
872
00:47:29.369 --> 00:47:32.909
LaShawn Keith was dead because of what happened under that bridge.
873
00:47:34.000 --> 00:47:37.619
There wasn't one reason LaShawn died. There were weeks of resentment,
874
00:47:38.039 --> 00:47:41.900
too much alcohol, the wounded pride of young men, and
875
00:47:42.460 --> 00:47:47.760
one terrible decision after another. They had each expressed remorse.
876
00:47:48.800 --> 00:47:51.679
For the last 16 months, Zach and Brian had each
877
00:47:51.739 --> 00:47:55.050
been carrying the weight of that night. Zach said it
878
00:47:55.119 --> 00:47:59.070
changed the way he looked at life. Brian said it
879
00:47:59.110 --> 00:48:07.599
still haunted him. But remorse, and responsibility aren't the same thing.
880
00:48:47.349 --> 00:48:50.869
After 16 months of an investigation that was going nowhere,
881
00:48:50.889 --> 00:48:56.039
a DNA match brought detectives their final real break. After
882
00:48:56.159 --> 00:48:59.280
talking to Ochoa, they spoke with the two men who
883
00:48:59.340 --> 00:49:04.380
were responsible for LaShawn Keith's death, Zachary Traynor and Brian Wimbley.
884
00:49:05.300 --> 00:49:08.329
Zachary Traynor and Brian Wimbley both told the same story,
885
00:49:08.409 --> 00:49:13.039
but distanced themselves from responsibility, placing blame on each other.
886
00:49:14.079 --> 00:49:18.429
They minimized their roles, as most suspects do. But who
887
00:49:18.489 --> 00:49:20.469
were these two men when they were not trying to
888
00:49:20.840 --> 00:49:24.920
save themselves? Detective Hayward had done background research on the
889
00:49:24.980 --> 00:49:28.420
two young men. They were both holding down jobs and
890
00:49:28.519 --> 00:49:33.760
had supportive families. So, which one's story was more credible?
891
00:49:34.760 --> 00:49:35.789
I guess what story did he.
892
00:49:36.409 --> 00:49:39.610
Zach's sister had mentioned that Brian was the bad influence,
893
00:49:39.690 --> 00:49:42.320
and when Detective Hayward went to Florida to speak with
894
00:49:42.340 --> 00:49:44.239
Zach's friend, the one who connected him to Ochoa, he
895
00:49:44.260 --> 00:49:45.139
said something similar.
896
00:49:59.210 --> 00:50:01.570
Never really liked him because he was a bad influence.
897
00:50:01.590 --> 00:50:03.389
That's something I will tell you. He was always a
898
00:50:03.429 --> 00:50:05.260
bad influence. He got him into shit I would have
899
00:50:05.300 --> 00:50:07.400
never got him into. He's just a bad influence.
900
00:50:07.900 --> 00:50:10.420
I was only on the phone with Brian about once
901
00:50:10.480 --> 00:50:10.880
or twice.
902
00:50:10.920 --> 00:50:12.880
And the first time he was cool, but the second
903
00:50:12.900 --> 00:50:14.260
time he started fucking Zach.
904
00:50:14.300 --> 00:50:16.570
So I wasn't with all that shit.
905
00:50:16.809 --> 00:50:18.130
I'm going to be a hunter with you. He's going
906
00:50:18.150 --> 00:50:20.570
to be lying about some shit. Zach is probably going
907
00:50:20.590 --> 00:50:23.829
to be more cooperative. Brian is just trying to cover
908
00:50:23.869 --> 00:50:24.469
his own ass.
909
00:50:26.250 --> 00:50:29.380
But Brian wasn't afraid of the police. He was afraid
910
00:50:30.260 --> 00:50:30.780
of Zach.
911
00:50:31.340 --> 00:50:33.920
Pretty much this stuff happened and I kind of like
912
00:50:34.719 --> 00:50:37.039
cut ties with him because I was like, I.
913
00:50:36.949 --> 00:50:40.230
Don't want to be associated with you. You are bad news.
914
00:50:40.250 --> 00:50:41.869
I haven't even talked to him.
915
00:50:43.070 --> 00:50:43.409
Zach?
916
00:50:43.769 --> 00:50:46.309
I've lost his number.
917
00:50:46.690 --> 00:50:50.460
All communications. I want nothing to do with him. I
918
00:50:50.500 --> 00:50:53.940
still can care. Sorry about the language, but I can
919
00:50:53.960 --> 00:50:55.980
give two folks less to even see his face again.
920
00:50:56.000 --> 00:51:00.300
I hope I got you. Like, he stayed far away
921
00:51:00.340 --> 00:51:00.800
from me.
922
00:51:00.860 --> 00:51:02.619
He pulled the knife on my dad when me and
923
00:51:02.659 --> 00:51:04.139
my dad were arguing one day.
924
00:51:04.159 --> 00:51:05.300
Oh, no kidding.
925
00:51:05.559 --> 00:51:09.719
And he said, I'll fucking kill you right now. And
926
00:51:09.760 --> 00:51:10.440
he's told me.
927
00:51:10.360 --> 00:51:13.030
Before when I was working at the gas plant. He
928
00:51:13.070 --> 00:51:14.730
told me that he had.
929
00:51:17.210 --> 00:51:18.289
Killed somebody before.
930
00:51:18.309 --> 00:51:19.449
And I was.
931
00:51:21.090 --> 00:51:25.340
Like, ah, he's just bullshit. He seems like a bullshitter.
932
00:51:25.360 --> 00:51:25.420
No.
933
00:51:26.769 --> 00:51:30.309
But when Brian followed Zach beneath that bridge that night,
934
00:51:31.190 --> 00:51:34.070
he began to wonder if those stories had been true
935
00:51:34.190 --> 00:51:34.670
after all.
936
00:51:34.690 --> 00:51:38.550
Like, he's already killed one person.
937
00:51:40.090 --> 00:51:43.030
He obviously, it looks like, is coming here for another
938
00:51:43.050 --> 00:51:45.070
reason than what he told me he was coming for.
939
00:51:45.840 --> 00:51:49.980
And now I could be the third body. So at
940
00:51:50.039 --> 00:51:53.780
that point, my brain was just like, semi-go with the flow.
941
00:51:54.980 --> 00:51:56.039
So if he tells you.
942
00:51:55.980 --> 00:51:56.380
To do something.
943
00:51:58.590 --> 00:52:01.449
Just obey him. Just do what he says. But like
944
00:52:01.530 --> 00:52:04.110
I said, I was scared shitless at that point.
945
00:52:04.130 --> 00:52:06.809
So you heard a thud and you don't know who
946
00:52:06.869 --> 00:52:07.809
hit who then?
947
00:52:08.769 --> 00:52:12.630
I was assuming because the one dude kind of grabbed
948
00:52:12.650 --> 00:52:14.170
his chest and went back.
949
00:52:14.250 --> 00:52:14.989
The homeless man?
950
00:52:15.730 --> 00:52:18.030
Grabbed his chest and went back. I was like, dude,
951
00:52:18.070 --> 00:52:19.989
what the fuck are you doing? We're not trying to
952
00:52:20.030 --> 00:52:22.269
fucking kill the dude. You said you were going to
953
00:52:22.329 --> 00:52:25.269
kick his ass. Let's not kick his ass, dude. And
954
00:52:25.849 --> 00:52:31.789
his eyes like almost demonic looking dead at him like
955
00:52:31.809 --> 00:52:33.809
what the fuck are you doing you need.
956
00:52:33.550 --> 00:52:37.230
To stop then what happened next he's like.
957
00:52:37.550 --> 00:52:40.699
Don't fucking worry about me I think I at one
958
00:52:40.760 --> 00:52:42.659
point tried to walk away and he's like you better
959
00:52:42.699 --> 00:52:46.659
not fucking walk away or you're next but the voice
960
00:52:46.719 --> 00:52:49.300
his voice didn't even sound the same at that point
961
00:52:49.340 --> 00:52:55.610
like his voice had like changed like deeper which was
962
00:52:55.630 --> 00:52:58.849
scary That kind of told me, oh man, maybe he
963
00:52:58.889 --> 00:53:02.010
wasn't joking about the other person that he had killed.
964
00:53:03.130 --> 00:53:06.340
Brian wasn't the only person who described a different side
965
00:53:06.800 --> 00:53:10.960
of Zach. Months later, after they were both arrested, another
966
00:53:11.019 --> 00:53:15.980
man would tell Detective Hayward about conversations in jail. These
967
00:53:16.039 --> 00:53:18.619
conversations offered a very different picture.
968
00:53:19.280 --> 00:53:21.860
I got some information that you might have had a
969
00:53:21.860 --> 00:53:25.829
cellie at one point that had done a homicide in.
970
00:53:26.460 --> 00:53:27.780
He's like my son.
971
00:53:28.219 --> 00:53:29.059
He's so stupid.
972
00:53:29.079 --> 00:53:31.079
He's talking about it right there in court.
973
00:53:31.159 --> 00:53:35.239
I mean, in the holding tank, waiting to go to court.
974
00:53:36.059 --> 00:53:37.659
And what was he, was he talking to you or
975
00:53:37.679 --> 00:53:40.190
was he talking to somebody else? He was talking to me. Okay.
976
00:53:40.809 --> 00:53:42.849
Where did he, where did he say about this?
977
00:53:43.449 --> 00:53:48.590
He said it, uh, first, he was like, prosecution is stupid.
978
00:53:48.750 --> 00:53:54.429
He said the prosecution, everybody's stupid. Him and Wendell E. Oh,
979
00:53:54.440 --> 00:53:56.639
he told us the guy's name, too? That's the guy
980
00:53:56.679 --> 00:53:59.690
that sent it with him. That's what made him start it, because, uh...
981
00:53:59.750 --> 00:54:02.690
Were they both in the holding cell, or no? Wimbley
982
00:54:02.769 --> 00:54:06.289
or whatever was in the cell next to us.
983
00:54:06.329 --> 00:54:08.329
But he was like, it's code-offended. That's the game.
984
00:54:08.389 --> 00:54:10.730
God didn't start something by saying, dude, this is code-offended.
985
00:54:11.230 --> 00:54:13.750
He said the dude told on him. This man crazy
986
00:54:13.809 --> 00:54:16.139
as fuck. Tell him all this. He did a murder,
987
00:54:16.159 --> 00:54:18.900
and he tell him all this. Oh, and he said it, uh...
988
00:54:19.900 --> 00:54:21.070
He telling people, uh.
989
00:54:22.909 --> 00:54:24.570
I think I'm trying to awkwardly in jail.
990
00:54:25.489 --> 00:54:25.769
Okay.
991
00:54:26.429 --> 00:54:30.239
You think he was giving you an accurate account or
992
00:54:30.260 --> 00:54:31.820
you think he was trying to be a tough guy?
993
00:54:32.219 --> 00:54:33.579
I think he was telling the truth.
994
00:54:33.619 --> 00:54:34.760
He was telling the truth.
995
00:54:34.780 --> 00:54:36.900
He laughed in the whole time. Like, you don't have
996
00:54:36.940 --> 00:54:37.480
no remorse.
997
00:54:37.519 --> 00:54:37.860
He laughed.
998
00:54:37.880 --> 00:54:38.579
That's another thing.
999
00:54:38.619 --> 00:54:39.219
Like, damn.
1000
00:54:39.550 --> 00:54:42.050
Like, he just, like, he didn't have no remorse. He
1001
00:54:42.070 --> 00:54:43.269
was laughing the whole time.
1002
00:54:43.309 --> 00:54:45.590
Like, you know what I mean?
1003
00:54:45.630 --> 00:54:48.590
You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm only going to
1004
00:54:48.730 --> 00:54:49.489
get 12 years.
1005
00:54:58.219 --> 00:55:02.800
Whether Burton was telling the truth or simply repeating jailhouse bravado,
1006
00:55:03.699 --> 00:55:06.699
he challenged the image of Zach that had emerged during
1007
00:55:06.739 --> 00:55:10.400
the interviews. But Detective Hayward already had what he needed.
1008
00:55:11.320 --> 00:55:14.559
Ochoa had admitted to moving the body. Zach and Brian
1009
00:55:14.579 --> 00:55:17.829
had each admitted in taking part in the assault. Their
1010
00:55:17.849 --> 00:55:20.869
stories differed on who threw the first punch and who
1011
00:55:20.909 --> 00:55:24.389
struck the final blow, but they've already figured out all
1012
00:55:24.429 --> 00:55:27.880
this shit in the law. If you go to a
1013
00:55:27.929 --> 00:55:31.260
location with the intent of committing a crime, no matter
1014
00:55:31.300 --> 00:55:34.719
what it is, whether it be assault or robbing a
1015
00:55:34.920 --> 00:55:38.940
Snickers bar, and in that act, something goes wrong and
1016
00:55:38.980 --> 00:55:44.900
someone dies, well, guess what? You're responsible for that. That's
1017
00:55:45.800 --> 00:55:49.869
what the law is. So, it doesn't matter who threw
1018
00:55:49.889 --> 00:55:53.150
the first punch. It doesn't matter who struck the final blow.
1019
00:55:54.190 --> 00:55:59.130
Stupid people don't realize this, because they're stupid. Sixteen months earlier,
1020
00:55:59.170 --> 00:56:02.050
Detective Hayward had stood in a muddy field looking at
1021
00:56:02.090 --> 00:56:06.150
a body with no witnesses and only a single glove
1022
00:56:06.429 --> 00:56:10.489
to guide him. That glove eventually led him to three
1023
00:56:10.570 --> 00:56:15.159
young men with three very different stories, but enough truth
1024
00:56:15.460 --> 00:56:18.010
between the three of them to hold each one of
1025
00:56:18.050 --> 00:56:22.840
them accountable. In the end, both Zachary Traynor and Brian
1026
00:56:22.860 --> 00:56:27.900
Wimbley were charged with second-degree homicide. Neither Zach nor Brian
1027
00:56:28.000 --> 00:56:31.059
asked a jury to decide whose version of events was true.
1028
00:56:32.099 --> 00:56:36.250
Both accepted plea agreements and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
1029
00:56:37.349 --> 00:56:41.269
Ochoa was charged with accessory to a felony after the fact.
1030
00:56:42.110 --> 00:56:44.210
He was sentenced to a year and a half in prison,
1031
00:56:45.260 --> 00:56:48.360
Zach and Brian, though, were sentenced to 15 to 30
1032
00:56:48.360 --> 00:56:51.179
years in prison for their roles in the death of
1033
00:56:51.199 --> 00:56:56.250
33-year-old LaShawn Keith and dumping his body in a hayfield.
1034
00:56:57.389 --> 00:57:01.570
LaShawn Keith didn't have many material possessions, but he had
1035
00:57:01.610 --> 00:57:05.030
a life, and he had a family, and he was
1036
00:57:05.070 --> 00:57:09.030
a human being. And that's all that matters. He didn't
1037
00:57:09.050 --> 00:57:13.300
deserve to be beaten, bloody, and broken again. left to
1038
00:57:13.340 --> 00:57:18.469
bleed internally until he finally passed away alone, in the dark,
1039
00:57:19.710 --> 00:57:25.400
under a bridge. That's absolutely no way for anyone to go.
1040
00:57:43.760 --> 00:57:46.340
Our latest episode of Sword and Scale television is available
1041
00:57:46.380 --> 00:57:49.780
right now at swordandscale.com. It's called Frail. You should check
1042
00:57:49.820 --> 00:57:53.320
it out. And if you still don't know why there's
1043
00:57:53.360 --> 00:57:57.079
some episodes missing from the free feed, why some are
1044
00:57:57.119 --> 00:58:01.840
marked plus and unavailable to you, well, that's because we're
1045
00:58:01.860 --> 00:58:04.860
not a nonprofit and you're probably not smart enough to
1046
00:58:04.989 --> 00:58:07.849
be part of our audience. Anyway, you can find them
1047
00:58:07.869 --> 00:58:08.809
at swordandscale.com.
1048
00:58:09.909 --> 00:58:10.230
Duh.
1049
00:58:18.789 --> 00:58:19.650
Thank you.
1050
00:59:16.769 --> 00:59:17.369
Thank you.