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is just one example of many ways that Prime

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Prime. Visit amazon.com/Prime. Get

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more out of whatever you are into. A

1:31

high-powered lawyer tries to balance her family

1:34

and her career. She

1:36

loved those girls. She wanted great things for them

1:39

and worried about them like if they were her

1:41

own children. After making

1:43

partner, her goal and the next step was to

1:45

be a judge. But

1:48

when she disappears... She's

1:51

usually the first one in the office every day. They started

1:54

thinking, you know, something's wrong here. This

1:57

is not good. show

2:00

up. The

2:02

possibilities are frightening. Was

2:05

it a home-engaging robbery or even

2:07

possibly a carjacking? We're

2:10

looking for people that may have heard

2:12

screams, gunshots, a cry for help. Investigators

2:16

uncover a criminal conspiracy.

2:19

Principal Law Parker was

2:21

subject of a significant

2:23

criminal Ponzi scheme investigation.

2:26

Ended up being a $50 billion criminal

2:28

enterprise. Do

2:31

the clues lead to a motive much

2:34

closer to home? An

2:36

evil person who can get his way. Plantation

2:48

Florida is built on Everglade

2:51

wetlands drained by developers to

2:53

create what they called the

2:55

City of the Future. The region's

2:58

watery past is ever-present in

3:00

the series of managed canals

3:03

that snake through the community's

3:05

lush backyards. Plantation

3:08

is an upper scale

3:10

middle class area. The

3:13

houses are larger. They actually have

3:15

maybe a half an acre

3:17

of land. South

3:21

Florida as a whole is built

3:24

on swampland. And so it is

3:26

not at all uncommon to have

3:28

your backyard abut a canal. These

3:34

canals are part of our

3:36

everyday life. They're

3:40

everywhere.

3:44

Early one Friday morning, a maintenance worker

3:47

is checking the pump station on a

3:49

canal that runs through the backyards of

3:51

several homes. He

3:54

went out to do his morning review

3:56

and site maintenance to make sure that

3:58

the water is flowing. through the

4:00

grates and going out towards the Everglades.

4:05

That's when the worker notices something obstructing

4:07

one of the grates. Normally

4:10

it's just weeds, trash,

4:12

things of that nature that will clog

4:14

up the grating system. He

4:17

noticed that it was something

4:19

unusual and went to inspect it.

4:23

He at first thought it was a

4:25

mannequin. He had found

4:28

mannequins floating there before that the

4:30

clothing stores nearby had discarded in

4:32

the canal as trash.

4:37

As he tried to clear the

4:39

area, he

4:42

realized that this is not a mannequin.

4:45

This was in fact a human

4:47

body. The

4:51

worker immediately shuts down the pump and

4:54

calls 911. When

5:05

I arrived at the canal, I'm brought down

5:07

to a landing which was the

5:09

best location to visually observe

5:11

the body in the water. It

5:15

was a white female. She

5:18

had a brown hair. She was

5:20

wearing a flourey

5:22

colored blouse, dress

5:25

pants, slacks. She had no shoes

5:27

on. In

5:30

plantation, you don't have a

5:32

huge crime rate and when

5:35

something happens of this

5:37

nature, it's almost always a

5:39

big deal because it's an extremely

5:41

unusual discovery for that area. Obviously,

5:45

it is the

5:47

number one burning question. Who is this

5:49

person buried in this

5:51

backyard canal? South

6:05

Florida's beautiful beaches attract sun

6:07

worshipers from around the world.

6:10

But that's not why Melissa Lewis came here.

6:14

After earning her law degree, she

6:16

saw an opportunity in the Sunshine

6:18

State's rapidly growing legal profession. Melissa

6:27

liked to help people, so

6:30

she went into employment law. She

6:34

was working at Rostin-Rosenfeld Adler

6:36

with Deborah, her best friend. Melissa

6:42

was a very high

6:44

energy motivated person. She

6:47

set her mind

6:49

towards something, she accomplished the goal.

6:52

39-year-old Melissa charts an ambitious

6:55

course at Rostin-Rosenfeld and Adler,

6:57

and her efforts are rewarded.

7:01

She was the first woman to make

7:03

a partnership, which was kind of a big deal.

7:05

It was life changing for her. She

7:08

was very proud of that. After

7:11

making partner, her goal and the next step was

7:13

to be a judge. She

7:17

was just a very giving, fun,

7:20

loving person. Missy

7:23

was an advocate for victims of

7:25

domestic violence. She would

7:27

donate things for women in distress.

7:31

I was going through my divorce. I

7:33

hadn't left my ex-husband for many years because I was

7:35

worried of what he might do to me and the

7:37

children. Melissa was there

7:39

for me. My

7:42

children loved her because

7:44

I didn't have sisters. She

7:47

was like an aunt to them. She

7:51

had Deborah and she had her family, her

7:53

dogs, her career. She

7:57

had the life, she was loving it. In

8:07

her professional life, Melissa is all

8:10

business, known for being punctual and

8:12

prepared. So

8:14

when she doesn't arrive for a morning meeting on

8:17

March 6, 2008,

8:20

her coworkers immediately become concerned.

8:24

I got to work and Melissa's assistant comes to

8:26

me and she's like, do you know where Melissa

8:28

is? I said, she's not here? Like

8:31

me. She's

8:33

usually the first one in the office every day. I'm

8:35

calling her and texting her and she

8:38

didn't answer. And

8:42

I started thinking, there's something wrong here.

8:47

So I called her sister. She

8:51

would never not show up to something

8:53

that she's expected to be there.

8:57

You just get that unsettling feeling. This

9:00

is not good. So

9:04

then I called the police officer that I knew

9:06

in plantation and I said, hey, could you do

9:08

me a favor? You know, Melissa seems

9:10

to be kind of missing. Can you

9:12

drive by her house? Make sure she's okay? She's

9:22

unable to shake their feelings of dread.

9:24

Deborah and Carrie meet the officer

9:26

at Melissa's house. We

9:30

walk in and just looking around,

9:32

calling her name. Melissa's

9:37

dogs were there and they were really

9:39

hyper and Carrie's like, you know, she

9:41

would never leave the dogs like

9:44

this. Obviously

9:46

you start looking closer and at every little thing

9:48

at that point. And

9:52

then when we got to the garage, her

9:55

car's not in the garage.

10:00

And there was yellow stuff kind of sprayed all over

10:02

the garage door. On the inside of the garage, all

10:04

over the garage door. And

10:07

the officer was like, okay, nobody touch anything. And

10:11

I said, what is this? And the officer

10:13

made this feather spray. It

10:18

was all over the garage. And

10:23

I looked down literally right under my feet. I looked down

10:25

and there's a button

10:27

off of her suit. And

10:30

I just looked at the officer and I just, it's

10:34

like confirmation something's been really, really

10:36

wrong. We

10:41

were looking for people that may have heard screams,

10:44

gunshots, cry for help.

10:47

Maybe she's still alive, time is of

10:49

the essence. The

10:51

last time that we spoke to her, she was going into

10:53

public. Maybe she

10:56

was abducted in the parking

10:58

lot. When

11:04

Florida attorney Melissa Lewis is a no

11:06

show for an important meeting, police

11:08

officers find her home empty

11:11

and discover evidence of an

11:13

attack. They

11:16

immediately call detectives to the scene.

11:19

When I first arrived at Melissa Lewis'

11:21

house, there were groceries in the garage

11:24

that have not been unpacked and

11:26

had been recently purchased. The

11:28

dog door to the residence had what looked like

11:30

pepper spray on it. Melissa's

11:34

close friend, Deborah, said that Melissa

11:36

did have pepper spray on her

11:38

normally, cured it in her purse.

11:42

We started coming up with different theories on what

11:44

could have happened. Could

11:46

somebody have followed her in to commit

11:49

a home burglary, a home invasion

11:51

robbery, or even possibly a

11:53

carjacking? Maybe she's

11:55

in the car, maybe she's still alive, time

11:57

is of the essence. Luckily

12:02

for us, it was a newer model

12:04

Cadillac. It was equipped with an OnStar

12:06

system. We

12:08

were able to have OnStar provide

12:10

us with a GPS location for

12:12

the vehicle. They

12:16

located it within

12:18

walking distance to Melissa Lewis' house.

12:23

Heart on the other side of the

12:25

community that Melissa Lewis lived in. Melissa

12:29

Carr is there, but

12:31

not Melissa. We

12:34

opened up the rear hatch of the vehicle. Inside

12:37

of there we found her shoes. We

12:40

found her suit jacket. And

12:44

the button that we had seen earlier on

12:46

her garage floor looked like

12:48

it came from this jacket. There's

12:52

substances on the jacket. If

12:54

you're sprayed with pepper spray, you

12:57

may spit, cough, sneeze. That

13:00

type of fluid was on her jacket. So

13:05

just in case there's DNA, great

13:07

care is taken to preserve all

13:09

of those things. They

13:16

transferred the car to Broucher's at this

13:18

crime lab. Hoping

13:21

to track Melissa's movements,

13:23

investigators immediately request her cell phone

13:25

records, knowing it will take some time.

13:29

In the meantime, they turn to her sister,

13:31

Carrie. She tells detectives that

13:33

she spoke to Melissa by phone the

13:35

previous evening. She

13:41

went to Publix almost every night on her way home from work.

13:44

That was the last time that we spoke to her. She was

13:46

going into Publix. She

13:50

obtained surveillance video from inside of

13:52

Publix. They

13:57

were able to see the suit that she

13:59

was wearing. what kind of

14:01

purse she was wearing. It

14:03

was a designer purse. Because

14:06

Melissa was known to wear

14:09

nice jewelry and carry designer

14:11

handbags and things of that

14:13

nature, it was a

14:15

natural theory for police to suspect

14:17

that this was a robbery gone

14:20

bad. But

14:23

the video doesn't show anything suspicious

14:25

inside the supermarket, and there

14:28

are no surveillance cameras outside the

14:30

store. Investigators

14:33

check to see if one of

14:35

Melissa's neighbors might have seen something

14:37

unusual. The

14:39

patrol officer canvassed the area. We

14:42

were looking for people that may have

14:44

heard screams, gunshots, cried for

14:46

help. Unfortunately,

14:48

after canvassing, that

14:51

afternoon, nobody saw any

14:53

suspicious vehicles, saw any suspicious people

14:55

nearby. Investigators

14:59

are still leaning towards a robbery,

15:02

but there's one thing that doesn't fit.

15:05

Usually in those carjacking robbery scenarios,

15:09

the body's not missing. In my

15:11

experience, people aren't put in the back of

15:13

a stolen vehicle and then driven away

15:15

somewhere. So her

15:18

disappearance was really unusual. It's

15:24

now the morning after Melissa is reported

15:26

missing. An

15:29

engineer is clearing pumping machinery

15:31

in a backyard canal in plantation when he spots what appears

15:33

to be a mannequin buried in the debris. But

15:37

as he gets closer, he realizes it is a

15:39

woman's body. It

15:42

was a little after 7 a.m. I

15:44

was driving in the work that day. I heard a report that

15:46

he was driving in the morning. He

15:49

was driving in the morning. He was driving in the

15:51

morning. I

15:53

heard a report over the police radio that

15:55

a body had been discovered. Based

15:58

on a brief description over the radio, I

16:00

thought the body that

16:02

they had discovered could be a Melissa Lewis. When

16:09

she was brought out of the water,

16:12

there was very minor indications

16:14

of trauma at that time, nothing

16:16

obvious, no stab wounds, gunshot wounds,

16:18

things of that nature. And

16:22

because of the good condition of the body, we

16:26

were able to make that identification ourselves

16:29

based on recent photographs, driver's

16:31

license, picture, clothing

16:33

being worn, that

16:35

it was Melissa Lewis. Melissa's

16:43

body is sent to the medical examiner's

16:45

office for an autopsy as

16:48

investigators begin the sad task of

16:50

notifying her family and friends. I

16:55

got a call from one of the detectives

16:57

and that's when everything changed. And

17:00

all the hope is gone. It

17:08

was just, it was

17:10

unbelievable. I

17:12

just slowly started fading down to the floor. I

17:24

have a sister growing up and just

17:28

all women are supposed to have that friend in their

17:30

life, you know, and just all of a sudden,

17:33

it's just gone. I

17:36

was just devastated. I

17:43

know I did a lot of crying and

17:47

basically just focused on, you know, staying with my Focus

17:51

on my kids. They

17:54

wear everything to her. My

17:58

kids were just like her own. They

18:02

were devastated. Devastated.

18:20

The autopsy results come in and

18:22

the findings are chilling. There

18:28

was obvious trauma to her

18:30

neck area. The

18:34

medical examiner determined that the

18:36

cause of death was manual

18:38

strangulation. At

18:42

that point we knew that this case

18:44

was a homicide. A

18:49

death like the one that Melissa Lewis suffered

18:52

would be one of the

18:54

most horrific ways a person can die.

18:57

Manual strangulation is a drawn

19:00

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19:03

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crime ad free. That's amazon.com/true

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crime ad free and catch

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up on the latest episodes

20:14

without the ads. After

20:24

the body of missing attorney Melissa Lewis

20:26

is found floating in a backyard canal

20:28

in Plantation, Florida, police have determined

20:30

she was likely strangled the same

20:33

evening she was last seen. So

20:37

at this point her death is classified

20:39

as a murder case, a homicide, which

20:42

really ramps up the level of investigation.

20:46

The canal is four miles from Melissa's

20:48

home. Researchers

20:51

begin an intensive search of the area.

20:57

Our theory was that she was transported

20:59

there and in her own vehicle and

21:02

then dumped by somebody into the canal. So

21:06

we were looking for access areas. There

21:09

was a dirt road behind a

21:11

small strip mall where

21:16

a car could drive up into that area.

21:19

It was pretty concealed from

21:22

the main road. Someone could have

21:24

easily at night opened

21:26

up the hatch of the vehicle and

21:29

either kicked them down, pushed them down into

21:31

the canal. But

21:34

the search of the dirt road and access ramp

21:36

proves fruitless. At

21:40

first I was leaning towards the carjacking

21:43

robbery scenario. But

21:45

the crime took place in the garage

21:47

of her house where pepper spray had

21:49

been used. Her

21:51

body was found miles away and

21:54

that her car was found near her house. unusual

22:00

for a carjacking. The

22:07

best clue at the moment is the nature of

22:09

the killing. Melissa

22:11

Lewis was strangled. And

22:16

because strangulation is so intimate, the

22:19

investigators conclude it's very likely this

22:21

crime was not random, but

22:23

personal. So

22:26

they begin to dig into Melissa's personal

22:28

life, looking for someone with motive to

22:30

harm her. We

22:32

talked to her best friend, who

22:34

identified as Deborah Villagas, a

22:37

co-worker of her, and

22:39

her sister, who's also very close with her. And

22:42

we asked them everything going on in Melissa's life. They

22:46

wanted to know everything, anybody that she came in

22:48

contact with, anybody who might be upset with her. They

22:52

repeatedly told us no. No

22:56

relationship issues. No

22:59

issues that work with clients, things

23:01

of that nature. I

23:07

think I was grasping at straws at that point. I

23:11

remembered, Missy was an advocate for

23:14

domestic violence because of

23:16

Deborah. And

23:19

I remember my sister telling

23:21

me that Deborah's husband, Tony,

23:25

had threatened to set

23:27

Deborah on fire in front of

23:29

her children. And

23:33

that he had slashed her tires. So

23:36

I called him, this man's abusive. So

23:40

then they wanted all the information about my ex-husband, and

23:43

they asked, you know, would he be upset about anything?

23:45

And I said, well, he's very upset

23:47

about everything. I

23:50

told them that we were pulling through the divorce and gave

23:52

them the details of our situation as well, so they could

23:54

see that it really didn't relate to her. He

23:58

would, you know, say, no. call

24:00

and leave threats, but I just

24:03

kept moving forward. Don't

24:05

antagonize him, don't argue with him.

24:08

Stay positive and move forward. And

24:12

I told them if I were the one

24:14

murdered, he would be your guy,

24:16

but he has no reason to be upset with Melissa.

24:18

He didn't even know her very well. Based

24:22

on Deborah's description, the detective

24:24

don't consider her ex-husband to be high

24:26

on the list of suspects. They

24:30

decide to search elsewhere in Melissa's life

24:32

for someone who might have motive to

24:34

attack her. During

24:38

an interview of Carrie, she mentioned

24:40

her ex-husband, Anthony Codinas, as

24:43

someone that has a criminal

24:46

history. Anthony is

24:48

father of my two oldest

24:50

children, and we were married

24:52

for 11 years. He

24:54

was a drug addict and had been

24:57

in prison for armed robbery. He

25:00

wouldn't have killed her, I don't think, but

25:04

he had also been involved in an armed robbery.

25:07

So, you know, you just

25:09

never know. So I did throw it out there.

25:13

I told the police, Melissa helped me fill

25:16

out the divorce papers, and

25:18

then she told me that he came to her house, and

25:21

it startled her a little bit. We

25:27

believe she was strangled by someone

25:29

who personally knew her on

25:31

the floor of her garage, and

25:35

Anthony Codinas, he's a felon. He

25:38

had committed an armed robbery years earlier. He

25:41

spent some significant time in prison. So

25:45

at that point, Mr. Codinas, the significant

25:48

suspect in this case. We

25:51

define him. And I think they could indeed. criminal

26:01

episode at the law firm that

26:03

sent off alarm bells. The

26:06

crime law contacted us. We have an exact

26:08

match. Two DNA collected

26:11

from Melissa Lewis's parents. Florida

26:21

detectives have identified their first

26:23

solid suspect in the murder of Melissa Lewis, her

26:26

former brother-in-law, Anthony Godinez.

26:32

We learned Anthony Godinez was a felon. He

26:35

had been arrested years earlier for unarmed

26:37

robbery. He was released in prison about

26:39

three years prior to this date. I

26:45

told him really in my

26:47

heart I knew that he didn't have anything to do with it. Detectives

26:52

stake out Anthony's home four and a half

26:55

miles from Melissa's, hoping

26:57

to corner him and speak with him. We

27:01

conducted a surveillance at Mr. Goodenius's

27:04

residence, where

27:07

we found that he wasn't physically

27:09

able. Investigators

27:14

learned Anthony had recently been

27:16

diagnosed with MS, and based

27:19

on what they were able to piece together

27:21

up to that point, he

27:24

would not have been able to carry out that type of abduction.

27:30

We spoke with him, and

27:33

he had a reasonable alibi on the

27:36

night that she went missing. With

27:42

their initial suspect now cleared,

27:44

investigators dig back into the

27:46

evidence. Melissa

27:48

was a successful attorney, and the

27:50

detectives consider whether her work might

27:52

have played a role in her

27:55

violent death. Scott

27:58

Rothstein, the founding director of the partner

28:00

of the law firm she worked for was

28:02

interviewed. Scott Rothstein was

28:04

very close to Melissa Lewis. She

28:07

had interned in the past for him. He

28:11

had a close relationship with her and knew her very

28:13

well. Scott

28:16

Rothstein was a very well-connected lawyer.

28:22

When this happened, his firm put

28:24

up a $250,000 reward for

28:27

information. She

28:31

was a very well thought of attorney

28:34

in Broward County. Maybe there

28:36

were cases where someone would have an axe

28:38

to grind with her. But

28:42

there are no promising suspects in

28:44

Melissa's caseload. Then,

28:53

after a frustrating three-day wait,

28:56

detectives finally received Melissa's phone

28:58

records. The

29:01

data showed when she left work. We

29:03

could show her traveling from downtown

29:06

Fort Lauderdale on the evening of March 5th,

29:10

arriving in the vicinity of the Publix

29:13

grocery store at about 7, arriving

29:16

home a little bit after 8 PM

29:19

that night. At

29:22

that point, the signal is stationary at

29:24

Melissa's house for almost an hour. Police

29:28

believe it is during this time period

29:30

that Melissa is murdered. But

29:33

oddly, after that, her cell phone

29:35

is on the move. The

29:39

phone travels at about 9

29:41

PM that night from the cell tower

29:43

and Melissa's neighborhood, out to

29:45

the area where we now know where she was

29:48

dumped in the canal. And

29:51

then it travels back towards

29:53

her home, back to her home cell tower.

29:56

And then it travels down

29:59

through Broward. County through

30:01

interstate 595 along interstate 75 into Dade County, Northern

30:03

Miami area where it

30:11

finally settles at one cell tower

30:14

between 10 and 11 that night and

30:16

the city of Hialeah. The

30:19

phone stays in that location until 6

30:21

a.m. the next morning. Then

30:24

it hits the road again. The early

30:27

morning hours of March 6 2008 the phone travels

30:29

in a very

30:33

direct straight line up

30:36

towards Palm Beach County and

30:39

then it disappears. Detectives

30:45

believe that whoever attacked Melissa

30:47

kept her phone. Since the

30:49

phone spent the night in Hialeah they

30:51

conclude so did the killer. Unfortunately

30:56

it wasn't precise GPS

30:59

latin long coordinates being

31:01

provided but it was a cell tower. It

31:05

could be one to three miles in either

31:07

direction of the tower which is a

31:09

lot of area to search. The

31:13

cell tower data isn't specific enough

31:15

to pinpoint their suspect but

31:18

because she was strangled investigators

31:21

believe Melissa knew her attacker

31:23

and now they know that person likely has

31:26

a connection to Hialeah. The

31:31

best way to get additional information was to

31:34

talk to Deborah and

31:36

Kerry again so we

31:38

brought them both back in and we

31:40

told them what the data showed. Melissa's

31:46

best friend and co-worker Deborah

31:49

is staggered by the information. It's

31:58

just horrible. because

32:01

it was then when I realized that she's

32:05

gone because of me. My

32:11

divorce was very, very ugly over

32:13

the course of the first year.

32:17

Tony was very angry and he was just

32:19

not a very stable person. He

32:21

broke into my shorts a couple of times and put

32:24

water in my gas tank. I've

32:26

got animals on my front porch. Just

32:29

bizarre things. When

32:32

police asked Melissa's best friend, Deborah

32:34

Villegas, about a suspect with a

32:36

connection to Hialeah, she stunned

32:39

to realize who it might be. Deborah

32:43

said he had recently moved in with

32:45

a friend in Hialeah within

32:47

the area of the

32:49

cell tower where Melissa's phone was pinging the

32:51

night of Melissa's murder. Deborah

32:55

initially told police her ex-husband had

32:58

no reason to harm Melissa, but

33:01

now she's not sure that's true. Melissa

33:05

was my dearest friend, somebody

33:07

to make me happy and to laugh with. Her

33:10

support was just helping me move forward in a positive

33:12

way. She

33:16

then went on to tell us her husband is

33:19

a conductor on a train. The

33:23

police were on

33:26

a plane off Florida East Coast Railways that run from downtown Fort

33:28

Lauderdale up in the Pompano. The

33:35

track of the cell phone is mirroring where

33:37

Tony Villegas would be, where

33:40

he lives and where

33:42

he works. Police now subpoena Tony Villegas's

33:44

phone records. On

33:48

the night that Melissa Lewis was killed,

33:51

wherever Melissa Lewis's phone was, so was

33:53

Tony Villegas's phone. Melissa

34:00

is the lead law enforcement has

34:02

been waiting for. But

34:05

it's not concrete proof he killed her.

34:08

Hoping to find that proof, detectives obtain

34:10

a search warrant for the apartment Tony

34:12

shares with a roommate. We

34:16

were looking for obvious items of evidence

34:19

such as pepper spray, Melissa's

34:21

cell phone, or any other items

34:23

that could link him to the murder. But

34:27

we didn't find anything unusual. His

34:31

roommate said that on the night

34:34

that Melissa Lewis went missing, Tony

34:37

Beeges came home late that night and

34:39

had asked if he knew of a

34:41

way to wash it off or

34:43

get rid of pepper spray that

34:45

was on your body. That

34:50

sent off alarm bells. Our

34:56

theory was that he wanted to

34:58

hurt Deborah in the deepest way

35:00

possible. It was his ultimate way

35:02

to hurt Deborah. I'm

35:05

gonna kill and take away your

35:07

best friend, your support person. Even

35:10

more alarms go off a few days

35:13

later when police received DNA test results

35:15

for the small stain on Melissa's

35:17

jacket that was recovered from her car.

35:20

The evidence DNA collected from

35:22

Melissa Lewis's jacket. That

35:26

DNA belonged to Tony Beeges.

35:33

A week after her death, a judge

35:35

issues an arrest warrant for Tony Beeges.

35:38

On the same day, Melissa is laid

35:40

to rest. Missy's

35:49

funeral was surreal. The

35:53

reporters outside and I

35:55

remember Scott, Scott

35:57

Rothstein speaking at

35:59

her... funeral and the

36:02

firm they paid for the funeral. Everything.

36:10

It was so hard because to

36:13

to look at the family of her

36:16

knowing that she's gone because of me as Tony

36:19

knew that it would torture

36:21

me because I would have to live

36:23

with this pain and sadness the rest of my

36:25

life. It was just it's

36:30

just overwhelming. While

36:38

Melissa is being buried police are

36:40

zeroing in on Tony Viegas. Later

36:45

that day they find him hiding in

36:47

his mother's house. Investigators

36:49

and other special response units were

36:52

down outside of the home. And

36:55

Tony peacefully surrendered. And

36:59

they found her murder. That

37:01

was a huge relief. Tony

37:05

Viegas is arraigned on a charge

37:08

of first-degree murder. He

37:11

insists he's innocent and that he's being

37:13

set up by someone but

37:15

he refuses to say who. He

37:18

gave the other information to investigators.

37:21

Nothing else to say about what happened that night.

37:24

He was stoic. The

37:30

fence attorneys stall the judicial process for more than a year. Then

37:36

a stunning new development threatens to derail the

37:38

prosecution's entire case. Scott

37:44

Rothstein Melissa's principal law

37:46

partner was subject of a very

37:49

significant criminal Ponzi scheme investigation. One

37:53

of the most significant Ponzi schemes in the history of

37:57

the United States. He

38:02

was running a, what

38:04

ended up being a $50 billion

38:06

criminal enterprise. We

38:08

learned that he had fled the country to Morocco.

38:12

An FBI probe reveals that one of

38:14

Scott's partners in the massive financial fraud

38:17

is the law firm's

38:19

office manager, Deborah Viegas.

38:28

Police are forced to wonder,

38:30

could this multi-billion dollar crime be

38:32

the real reason for Melissa's murder?

38:36

As prosecutors in the case, the

38:38

Ponzi scheme cannot be

38:41

ignored. At the

38:43

time of Melissa's murder, she was working

38:45

for an enterprise that

38:48

was criminal. There's

38:51

no evidence that she was tied to

38:53

any criminal behavior or activity. But

38:55

the idea that Melissa's death

38:58

had absolutely nothing to

39:00

do with any of that, it

39:02

seemed to lack credibility. If

39:05

Melissa had learned of the Ponzi

39:08

scheme or was directly involved

39:10

herself, Scott Rothstein may have

39:12

wanted to have her eliminated. Tony

39:18

Viegas is awaiting trial for the murder

39:21

of Melissa Lewis, but the

39:23

case has been upended by an

39:25

FBI investigation. Melissa's

39:27

law firm has been charged with

39:29

financial fraud and tangled up in

39:31

the massive Ponzi scheme is her

39:33

boss, Scott Rothstein, and

39:35

best friend and office manager, Deborah

39:37

Viegas. Tony's

39:40

lawyers suggest that Scott and Deborah

39:42

may be Melissa's real killers. Deborah

39:46

being best friends with Melissa Lewis, obviously

39:49

the question started coming out

39:51

about, was there any connection

39:54

between any of the illegal activities

39:56

of Scott Rothstein, any illegal activities of the

39:58

Ponzi scheme? that Deborah may have

40:01

been involved in and the

40:03

murder of Melissa Lewis. If

40:07

Melissa Lewis had found out and

40:09

was going to expose this

40:11

very large criminal episode that

40:14

was happening at the law

40:16

firm, then they needed to eliminate

40:18

Melissa before she exposed it to

40:20

law enforcement. The

40:23

prosecutor's theory has been that Tony Viegas

40:26

killed Melissa in a fit of anger,

40:29

but detectives must now examine whether Melissa

40:31

was the victim of a sinister plot

40:34

to keep her silent. It

40:36

would be negligent on the investigator's part. It

40:39

would be negligent on our part not to

40:41

make sure that it

40:43

wasn't Scott Roth's claim. We

40:46

had the FBI and the

40:48

Florida Department of Law Enforcement assist

40:50

us in our investigation. Every

40:54

piece of evidence, every document, every

40:57

interview is picked apart, looking

40:59

for any connection between the multi-billion

41:01

dollar financial fraud and

41:03

the murder of Melissa Lewis. There

41:06

was no evidence of that, to

41:09

think that for all

41:11

the available people

41:14

to go out and hire to commit a

41:16

murder, would Scott Rothstein

41:18

use Tony Viegas, the estranged husband

41:21

of his confidant

41:23

and his Ponzi scheme to kill somebody else in

41:25

the law firm? No. The

41:27

theory didn't hold up. There was no

41:30

connection from Scott

41:32

Rothstein's activity to the

41:34

death of Melissa Lewis. Melissa

41:38

would have been horrified. It

41:40

was humiliating. It was

41:43

just the worst. It's

41:48

just a guilt that I guess I live with forever.

41:54

We were confident we had the right person arrested and

41:58

we were prosecuting the right person. The

42:04

case is finally back on track. The

42:07

Tony Villegas murder trial begins eight

42:10

years after Melissa's body was found

42:12

buried in a backyard canal.

42:16

Prosecutors tell the jury that Tony

42:18

was a controlling and obsessive husband

42:20

enraged by what he saw as

42:22

Melissa's interference in his marriage. Melissa

42:25

and Deborah were best friends. Melissa

42:28

in his eyes, figuredly, moved into his

42:30

spot. He felt that Melissa had

42:33

advised Deborah to get the divorce

42:35

and that it was her fault. The

42:42

investigation led us to believe that

42:44

that night Tony Villegas had driven

42:46

to the parking lot here in

42:49

Melissa's neighborhood. He

42:51

walked less than a quarter

42:53

mile to Melissa's house where

42:56

he waited for her to return home. When

43:00

she opened the garage, he

43:02

entered the garage. She

43:07

probably saw him coming. Used

43:12

after spray and self-defense. He

43:17

was a strong guy. He

43:19

strangled her right on the floor of her

43:21

garage. He

43:33

puts her body in the back of the SUV and

43:37

then he drives us to the canal. Takes

43:40

her body out of the back of the

43:42

SUV, throws her down into the

43:44

canal, drives back

43:46

to where his Corvette was parked,

43:52

drives his Corvette back down to Miami. The

44:01

trial lasts a week. It

44:03

takes the jury just two hours to reach

44:05

a verdict. The verdict

44:07

was guilty as charged for first-degree murder.

44:11

And he was consequently sentenced to

44:13

life in prison. A

44:24

very special person taken away from us because

44:26

of an

44:29

evil person who didn't

44:31

get his way. He

44:33

was selfless. I

44:39

miss my sister being

44:42

able to share the excitement

44:44

in my kids and

44:48

their achievements. She

44:52

was humble and kind

44:54

and giving, selfless. A

45:02

great person. I

45:31

miss my sister being able to share the excitement in my kids and their achievements. It's

45:42

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45:44

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45:47

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45:49

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46:04

never go it alone. That's

46:07

our anthem. Click to

46:09

learn more. We're

46:11

gone. We're here gone. Will

46:13

they fall back in love or will it go

46:16

down in flames? Does it have to

46:18

be crazy this entire holiday? Surrender any time

46:20

you want. Never. They

46:23

are passive aggressively hating each other. How about

46:25

that? I think that they actually love each

46:27

other. It's quite confusing. Starring

46:29

Leighton Meester, Robbie Amell. Nothing

46:31

for you right here, Graham. Ooh, hope

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it's not another act. X-mas

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now streaming only on 3D.