Who Killed Courtney Coco?
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Tonight on date light, I was a Young female SHE had a high school graduation ring on.

I promised courtney nearly on her grave. I'm GTA find out.

Sing for the money upon a graphed .

four thousand, six different guys.

When they asked you, did you kill court me?

I said, no, I am my sir.

Total step in that they are summa solve this case. On the that trip .

he was going to open his podcast of four tips.

body, work, life, road, ground, the hot land was blowing up, a good phone call, and heroic husband knows op did IT. He returned home in the midnight night, smiling and death.

You're about to tell them the answers.

All the american.

they're blown away. You must have just felt such betrayal.

Yes, maam.

I was florida. Teenage girl is found dead, her families long fight for justice reveals a dark secret. I'm less to haul t and this is deadline.

Here's Andrew a canning with who killed courtney coco.

IT was a full morning in two thousand four, and chAmbers county, texas, just as of houston, was already heating up. The temperature had hit seventy degrees and was quickly climbing. David rebelled, remembers that day. Well, I was .

actually working on that day.

He was a detective then with a local share of office.

I had going to the main share of office in anaa .

turn into some at A A M, A call chain from a patrol officer looking .

for rebels captain in an abandoned building over in fourteen or six.

Fourteen o six is a busy highway, a two lane road that runs for the tiny town of windy taxes.

One of the local formers, rand, about his track, and he just happened the glazes over there, and he saw what he thought look like a body.

a body. The detective had to see IT for himself. Discoveries like that don't happen often in winning mostly farm fields in ranchos. IT is in a town known for crime .

guy that I was just seeing something know.

didn't know, was in rebel also didn't want to believe IT. His house is just a stones throw from .

where he was headed.

hundred s hundred .

and fifty yard. Here is a talk about have the house that was not and never finished.

Rabel pulled up to the abandoned house not expecting much, but when he got out of his truck.

soon I was body.

A woman's body was lying at the entrance of the garage.

Yg, White female. SHE was known from the waste.

a disturbing and perplexing side.

SHE had a blue illus U. T. shirt. I was pull up to her neck, but he still held her no way. Body identity.

the body was that obvious.

How he died? No, that that was. Think, no obvious science, what sorely.

But the detective had a theory.

The first thing I thought was sexy assault, just to somebody special asset. I've got A Q. She's not tail.

He couldn't be sure of anything without an autopsy. IT was all just speculation. How long did you think he had been dead for? I thought .

sh'd been in part at least three days, three to four days.

How he died and why SHE was left in an abandoned building in winning made for a mystery, unlike any rebellion had ever seen before. He knew the case needed more resources, so his bosses called in the texas rangers.

we bring all the state resources with us, whether that's crime lab or aircraft needs, depending on what type of investigation IT is.

This is the equivalent of bringing in the big guns. Now retired texas ranger skylar horn, who'd grown up in wini, raced over to the scene. His first impression was that the body appeared staged.

that someone intentionally put her in that position, especially with the clothing missing, exposing her to the roadway.

That way, he also noticed a faint set of tire tracks.

Floor had a later of dust where the body was, and there were some tire tracks that ended where the body was found.

Did IT seem to you that someone had driven in the body to this location and then transported her from the car?

Bright, just the first appearance is that those tire tracks, probably associated with a car backing into that garage and dumping over there.

We're there any footprints?

There was a couple of fit impressions, or shoe impressions in the dust that were visible.

Detective rebel, I had noticed them too.

They had the circles. The circles graduate, smaller and smaller pattern. So I knew there was a time you crying.

The investigators continue to come the area. Anything giving you some .

clues that no beer, bottom of a public six, seven feet away from her? I had no clue if that was dropped by the perpetrator, or if there was some key that coming. Never fAllen. Drink through a lap.

So many unknowns, but the biggest, who was their victim? Was there anything around her to give you a name, a wall at a purse, a phone?

You could .

tell he was a Young woman.

tell at least her already made two .

detective rebellion, had a strong hunch. SHE wasn't a local.

I know till I work, when I live in any, I pretty much know everybody in. I look her. I thought he just done in a bail.

but he had one thing to go on.

SHE had a high school graduation ring on, and I knew, because I rates four boys, I knew that usually they put their name on inside the ring.

The name of the school was engraved on the outside of the ring, alexAndrea senior high, located a neighing lousianner. And on the inside.

when we open the ring up, we saw her night. cording. Coco.

did that name ring about to you? Not to me? Courtney, coco, the graduation date on the ring was two thousand, three, which meant the owner of the ring would be about thirty years old. This is a big break that you have this class ring.

Oh, one hundred percent.

But I was still too early to know for sure if I was even her. The rain could have been borrowed, sold or even stolen. Investigators needed answers about miss coco and hope the Alexander police department would have them.

I called x. Andrea is on a police department and got a hold of a detective there.

They never imagine that call would Spark a fifteen year investigation with so many twists in terms, starting with courtney class ring and a string of suspicious burglarious.

Less than two hours after a body was found in wini taxis, a call came into the alexandria police department in lousianner, some two hundred miles away. IT was texas ranger skylar hn asking for help in identifying the deceased Young woman who'd been found.

He was wants to know if we had a missing report or anything like that on a corti coco sergeant sedric .

Green took the call and look through the police database. He didn't find a missing person's report, but he did come across courtney's name for a .

different reason. What I found was that he had made several reports in our system of her resident being buried ed burglaries that .

happened less than two months earlier, which meant someone easily could have stolen her ring. Great surgeon Green needed to find out if courtine coco was actually missing and came across a name he believed was a .

relative lady that possibly could have been her mother. So I took a chance, and I called the number.

Stephanie bell guard is courtney's mom and was home alone. When the detective called and introduced himself.

he said, is ordinary there. And I said, no, sorry. I said, but this is her mom. I said, is something wrong.

What does he actually tell you? He told me they found a body in texas that had my daughters ring on her the finger. And I was like, no to her.

I said, it's not her. Her house has been broken into. Maybe someone stole her ring. Stephanie told .

sergeant Green that nineteen year old courtney lived nearby and that he was sure her daughter was safe and sound somewhere in Alexander SHE hung up with him and immediately tried courtney cell phone.

I was just like corney answered this phone. Corney answered this phone court. The answer to this.

you just wanted her a voice, yes, but no answer. Still desperate to reach courtney, steph anie called her oldest daughter lace, who is at work.

got on the phone with her. And all I got here was less. Tell me you talk to corny. I said, no, mama, why?

Stephanie told her what little SHE knew.

I lost IT at that point. I did first thing. I did that with our court anthy.

You're finance. That was my first C I con. When I said I need a ride from mark to go to my mom's house.

he couldn't get there fast enough. So a friend drove laced to her mom's place. SHE was there when surgeon Green arrived hours later and explained how the uni dentists ed body was discovered. Then he launched into some questions.

We started to ask her mother the last time she's seen her, if SHE had contacted her, don.

the week Stephanie told him he saw courtney just three days before. On friday, sh'd come over for a visit while steffani and her husband, we're getting ready .

for a camping trip. We were packing up the truck and I asked her if you want to come with us, SHE said. Mom, I don't do the woods.

stephane told surgeon Green. That was the last time he saw courtney. Did he have .

any connection to any SHE didn't have any connection to texas at all.

That was a good thing, he thought. But as the hours passed in, no one was able to locate courtney. Her family began to realize what they feared most might actually be true. Surgeon queen needed a family member to travel to taxes and view the body to know for sure. Course uncle agreed to make the trip with him.

Colony had just had braces put on her teeth a couple of weeks before, and he had just had a butterfly tattoo on her back. And I told to look for those two things.

All Stephanie could do them was wait and pray.

I was feeling horrible because I didn't want you to be anybody else is his child, but I definitely didn't wanted to be much out.

IT was hard for courtney's mom to imagine that anyone would wanted heard her sweet, bubbly cortney .

steph anie could remember so .

many happy moments with her, like this family gathering for courtney's sixteen birthday. Now, carefree memories, they were also precious. Courtney was the baby of the family, the Youngest of three.

two older sisters, two older sisters. And so SHE was very spoiled and got her way a lot. Had always .

been protective of her baby sister.

SHE was like the daughter I never had. I mean, I helped change your diapers .

at seven years old. Corney may have been the Youngest, but he'd always been the mature, steph anie says. When cortin's father died at eight years old, he helped plan the funeral.

He picked out his flowers, what he was going to wear. Everything should.

Eight years old courtney even shows the plot where he was buried, and then another for herself, right by his side.

SHE was very close to him, and part of her died with her daddy. SHE always grieved for him.

He would go out to the graveyard constantly. Her ents lin and Michelle were there to help her through the grief. And with her family support, courtney continue to thrive. How was SHE as a teenager?

SHE was a very good teenager actually. SHE made good grades, and I was really lucky.

Steph anie says he also excelled at sports. Soft ballgame NASA CS were her passions.

and SHE went into cheer later when he got to high school.

He must have been good at the cheerlead.

SHE was a gni s yes man.

Courtney's cousin canvas was the same age and was always impressed with our outgoing personality and generous spirit.

SHE loved everybody, and SHE solved the best in everybody. I didn't matter who you are, what you looked like .

after graduation, courtine enroll in college and plan to major in criminology.

Where did that come from? I think he took a criminology class in high school. And IT really Sparked her interest, and I found some of her old node. SHE was even like how to solve a murder, like the steps that .

you go through.

That's chilling. Yes, IT is shilling.

Because back in windy texas, IT was looking more and more like the uni dense fied Young woman was courtney coco. And what they were about to find in her home made them even more convinced.

As the sun rose the next day in Alexander Louis, ana courtney cocos family huddled together for the cold that threatened to shatter their world. When the phone ring, courtney's nt lyn picked IT up and answered. He was the first to hear that the body was, in fact, courtney.

I did not want the words to come out my mouth, Thomas sister, but I told her we need a plan of funeral. And I passed out. I just hit before .

the family's worst fears were now a reality. They were heartbroken, but also confused. There were so many unanswered questions, like how did courtney die and what was he doing in windy texas that morning? Both taxes and levies and law enforcement throughout the autopsy, and the medical examiner's findings would only deepen the mystery.

Even after he exam in the body, there was no bullet hole, there was no stab wound, there was no ligature Marks, there was no boosting around the mouth like they suffocated. And, you know, there was.

as nothing was, any sign of drugs, drug use, alcohol.

very, very low alcohol concentration of her body.

The medical examiner believe those levels were Normal for a person who had recently died, not due to alcohol consumption. As for drugs in courtney system, IT was too soon to know investigators would have to wait for the toxicology results. Are you thinking this could possibly be maybe a drug overdose?

It's possible. Uh, it's not uncommon for people to have an accident over those or poisoning and then panic and then leave the deceased somewhere.

And the theory that corti had been sexually assaulted case at all.

according to the outside, there was an an an evidence found of sexy soul.

But the medical examiner did have enough information to rule courtney's death a homicide. So what's your got telling you now?

My god, tell me, I don't know.

The detective figured .

whoever left courtney's body inside that abandoned house had to know his way around the area. We went back to that house. Someone lives .

there now.

was a SHE.

was probably six, eight inside.

Rebelleth was also convinced the person had seen the house before.

I figured with somebody that lived off somewhere else, and I even only passed to here from time of time. And new business or new was a dart, knew was abandon and be a good fun.

Would that have been easy for somebody to get to a location like this from Alexander?

Oh yeah. Quarter a man of the road. Eggs of attn come down here and fan a spotted, don't bring get back on att n to go back to example.

As surgeon Green drove back to a lousianner, he had a hunch the killer was from males Andrea, the city where courtney lived. He hoped the search of courtney's home would tell him something. Do you find anything in the house?

Signs of a struggle. The house was not turbo this, anything like that .

in the bedroom, sergeant Greens zero. And on one thing.

genes were land on the floor by the beat.

Shoes were there too. IT was a pretty typical mess for a Young adults, but I made him wonder if courtney was wearing the genes the night he died, if SHE has gone to bed and was then abducted or killed. But that would explain why courtine was found from the waste down. And there was also this.

IT appeared to be a sort of a cash box that was under her bed, but that was not in.

Did IT look like someone might have broken into the box?

IT wasn't broken into?

no. He continued searching, but neither courtney wallet nor phone turned up. Her car was missing. Two, a one thousand nine hundred and ninety nine Green pony ac robbery was on the table as a possible motive. But there was a problem with that theory.

There was no sign of force entry. All the doors will log. The windows will log.

Did you think that SHE willingly let someone in, that this was possibly somebody SHE knew?

Yes, either he let someone in a someone hato .

key Green believed courtney recently had guessed over beer cans and cigarettes were still on the dining table, a domino game too, along with a score card listings to other names.

There was jackie and Lewis.

Surgeon queen learned from courtney sister that jackie, one of courtney's closest friends, he asked her down to the station to .

answer some questions. Jacky told us that her and what he had been together that evening.

this is friday evening.

Friday evening. yes.

SHE gave investigators a detailed account of that night. The last night courtney was seen alive, and later, after further investigation, SHE met with the detectives again and reviewed her statement. This time they recorded the interview. Jackie described how SHE and courtney drove around that night, not doing much until they picked up jackie's boyfriend Lewis, from his fast food job at sonic, sometime around ten P. M.

strake. From strain .

to .

her house.

From there, he said they all went to courtney's .

house and play dominus for the rest of the night, SHE said later, sometime after midnight, a friend of courtney stopped by. His name was male.

Then around two .

I am jackie said courtney drove her in Lewis home. Investigators questioned Lewis too, and he told the same story.

They didn't know he was going to see anyone else because he was able to come back the next morning. The pickup lue is to take him to work.

Did SHE show up? No, jackie and Lewis were cool Operative, but surgeon Greens set out to check their stories. And whatever happened with meal while he was focused on that, courtney's family was locked onto someone else, someone they felt should be at the top of the suspect list.

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As the days passed, a timeline ine of courtney's final hours slowly began to emerge. Her friends jackie Lewis told detectives they spent friday night at her place playing dominoes until about two I am and then courtney drove them home, where you suspicious of jackie and Lewis at all? Or did you feel that they were being up front with you?

I was feeling that they would be in upt.

His team checked their alibis and track down this gas station. SurveilLance video IT showed jackie in courtine buying drinks at seven twenty three pm, just as he told them that's courtine in the blue t shirt.

My good feeling was that something happened when he dropped him off.

He wonder, though, did well the front who stopped by during the dominos game return to a courtney's house sometime later.

so we make contact with him.

Did you learn anything from him? No, at least nothing new. And detectives found no evidence to suggest he ever returned to courtney house that night.

Investigators ruled him out as a suspect. But what about those burglaries? Cortney reported before her death. Maybe there was something there.

a house that he was living in at the time of homeside.

Shortly before her death.

IT had been burglar zed three times in one week. Her TV stereo and some jewelry were taken. Was your gut telling you that maybe these burglaries were connected to her?

That sure is a possibility. I thought SHE wasn't coming back or whatever, and SHE surprised when he came back home.

But how did someone get inside the house if there was no forced entry? Courtney mom believed courtney's x roommate S A woman named Alexander to the answer to that. Corney told her family he thought AlexAndra was behind two of the burglaries.

SHE thought IT was the roommate because they had to have had a key, and SHE didn't have. The roommate maybe made an extra key.

Stephane explained to detectives that courtney kick the roommate out of the house after a heated argument. Alexander a didn't respond well.

she's reared to cut .

her goods out. Wow, did you look at the roommate?

We located her and talk to her. We did not get an indication that he was involved.

Surgeon Green quickly ruled alexzander y out as a person of interest and found no evidence linking her to the burglaries or additional leads connecting the burglaries to courtney's murder. But detectives were learning something that might be important to the investigation. Several people in courtney inner circle had criminal records involving theft and the sale of marijuana.

So I don't know if maybe the some of the drugs was playing in part today.

He was doing drugs. yes. Her cousin canda's new courtney smoked marijuana. SHE says IT started toward the end of high school.

And why do people do drugs? Me know, to escape something to to fill a void, to fill a whole that void .

candles believes that was created by the death of courtney's father.

I think that because he had a daddy shaped hole in her heart, SHE sought love and attention elsewhere. And when courtney .

dropped out of college after one semester, candis noticed her cousin took a turn for the worse. SHE was especially concerned about the company .

courtney started keeping. They were either dears or they had been caught doing something or another.

Corney had a little life that we knew about and one that we did know about.

I'm assuming you didn't love what you were hearing about this other life.

Yes, that's right. IT was just the type of people that he was around that had me really concerned people like .

a guy named jedi courtine on again, off again boyfriend, who at first seemed nice, polite when he met her .

family and to my house. And he introduced him, asked her future husband.

But as the months passed, lace .

learned he had a darker side.

O, good. SHE also began to suspect he might .

be violent. SHE had Bruces on her arms at a couple of times.

Courtney wouldn't say if jedi was responsible, but one day out of the blue, this says courtney, made a startling comment.

SHE told me one time, if anything ever happens to me, friendly Williams junior did IT, and I saw, who is that? And he said that duty, nobody on the straight nose, his name. So he wanted me, like, give that to the police.

That's exactly what lace did. After courtney's death, he told sergeant Green, everything. How seriously did you take what the family was saying about him?

I took everything that they say seriously because nobody knew who was involved. Point surgeon .

Green tracked jt down and brought him to the station for questioning. And when he asked him where he was during the weekend, cortina was killed.

He said he was around, around town and from different places of whatever.

So he wasn't giving you specifics. No, what are you thinking.

thinking that he's trying to keeps up and away from us?

The investigator knew ji die had a criminal record, but there were no violent offences. He also and believe jeli was capable of killing courtine and moving her body.

He small, and at five, six, did you straight ask.

did you have anything to do with tony coco stuff?

Yes.

he said no. Surgeon Green believed courtney's killer with someone close to her, perhaps another man in her life. Officially, jedi remained a suspect, but without evidence tanging him to the murder.

Green didn't see what more he could do. Courtney's family believed just the opposite. They thought there was a lot more he could be doing.

I wasn't happy with the investigation, and I have zero negative feeling towards enforcement, but I felt like proper measures were not taken.

not taken or pursued.

I feel like because of the choices that he made, the lifestyle SHE held, or the people SHE hung around, that he was almost like SHE was treated secondary. You know, cool. I'll go to that case later.

The family was losing faith fast in the alexandria police department. What they didn't know, the A, P, D, was on the horn with the texas rangers, and together they were about to catch a break that could crack the case wide open.

It's a parentless biggest fear having to bury a child.

And I just kept us in the god.

Just a week earlier, Stephanie bell gard was staring at her daughter courtney sweet face. Now SHE was looking down at her coffin.

Everything that I cared about, I I didn't care about a little more. I didn't want to get out out the bit.

I would imagine that, steph, anise pain is your pain, and .

absolutely is. When he cries, we cry, and then we try to be the rock for her if he needs to melt.

Hundreds of people attended courtney's funeral to say they're goodbye, but no one could forget that her killer was still on the loose.

There was lots of federal martials and policemen are walking around.

Courtney cousin could feel detention.

They were convinced that whoever did that to her would show about the funeral. You look at everyone in a different light, you know, did you have anything to do with that? Did you have anything to do with IT?

Corney sister lace was on edge, but heartbroken too. He wanted to see in touch her sister one last time.

The hardest saying was, and when even opened in casket, we couldn't even have his or jake. We could tell her goodbye the way we wanted to.

SHE was glad to have her family there a support, especially her fiance. Anthony was one of the people bears.

He was a power bear. He wanted to be a power bear too.

They Carried cortney to her final resting place next to her father. Remember, IT was her wish from SHE was just eight years old. IT was there at the cemetery that steffani made her .

daughter a promise neily on her grave. I said, i'm gonna find out who put you here and if the lord lets me too long enough.

i'm gonna a do IT. Back in taxes, detective robbery was trying to do the same, but his investigation was stalled. He'd been striking out since day one.

Lot of people called my office. I saw that girl. I said that girl, go.

But on the very day of courtney funeral, he got word of a new development. The Alexander y of police department crime sea unit had septet courtney's phone records and send them to range your home n they showed that SHE stopped using her phone at four thirty am saturday, not long after he drove her friend's home. But then sunday night, her phone records registered a sudden flurry of calls that continued after her body was found.

And when IT turned back on, IT was using a houston cell tower and started calling houston phone numbers.

IT was the first real break in the case. Did you feel like if you could find the phone, find the phone, you could find the killer potentially?

yes. If you can get there, you get to the person who last saw her and took her phone from her.

Courtney's phone was pining off two cell tower sixty miles away and a section of houston, texas called the fourth ward. Detective ravel and ranging or horn followed the pings and to their surprise, found the phone in the custody of a fifteen year old. So what is this, this teenager saying about how he got this phone, and does he know for me?

So he says he has no idea or any connection of the victim. He said two guys, one short, one tall, walking down the street and offered him the cellphone for ten dollars.

Just random strangers who approached him.

He did not know them by name or had not seen them before.

And just like that, there are only lead vanished. But a week later, they caught another break. And we're back in houston. They've been looking for courtney car, the Green pony ac, and found IT parked outside an apartment complex. Is this getting you any closer to courtney's possible killer?

We are hoping so.

The detectives learned the description of the two men who drove courtney's Carter. Houston matched that of the men who sold her phone. This time they ve got a name for one of them. red. Now you have a name.

We have a at least of nickname.

IT wasn't much, but range of hern and detective rebelling followed every lead. They came across in their search for red. They knew I could be key to solving the case. Red might have information leading .

to have information to something. He got the car from somewhere, the car came from a reason, and he ended up with that.

Somehow he could even be the killer. He could. But Lawrence cement never found red or learned his real name. Still, they had courtney car and a crime scene team to quickly process we check.

check for fingerprint. We collected garet te from inside the car.

They also spread luminous and found something.

We found some blood on the trunk. Latch was IT .

courtney's blood, or maybe her killers. Once again, law enforcement would have to wait for lab results to know the answer. Meanwhile, the investigation back in alexandria was about to zero in much closer to home, in a way that would put courtney's own family under the White hot spot light.

In the weeks after courtney coco was laid to rest beside her father, courtney's mother felt the need to cross into texas where her daughter's body had been found. What did you hope to get by going there? Or feel to me.

IT was cyc red ground even that was horrible how he got there. And we brought a priest with us when we went, and he blessed the place.

And in a more visible sign of faith, while the whole family watched places phya ci anthy burns help plant this cross near the building where her body was found.

Her cross was so beautiful, IT stood wrong.

but far at how we put IT down. And and they come off to the side where IT wit be like, right in front of the building. But like where I had a spot, at least go these flowers every now and then.

corney's family was juggling a range of emotions, sadness, confusion, anger. IT was the lack of answers. The houston crime lab had finished processing all the evidence from courtney's car, and they found nothing, none of the fingerprints, or the DNA LED investigators to a man who went by the name of red, or anyone else who brought them closer to identifying courtney's killer.

The final toxicology reports were also in and showed no drugs in courtney system. The medical examiner determined her cause of death was likely as fixie or a suffocation, and that he was mother to death. IT left the family feeling like they had to solve the murder on their own.

We would go out and we would hand out flyers and put fliers on every store in town, home fires with .

courtney photo and her mother's phone number, asking for any information that might help with the investigation. They wrote down every tip. They got every person they spoke to and looked through, according his phone and banking records, documenting every detail.

And they shared at all with surgeon Green. They weren't giving up, but after more than a year past, they felt like the detective already had. Is detective Green talking to you, being forthcoming, sharing with you what they are doing? Stephanie would call very frequently to try to get updates.

IT just got to a point where I felt like I was on the back burner.

But surgeon Green says the murder investigation was never on any backburner, and that he was doing the best he could with the resources he .

had had other homes, they were come in here and other things that were going on. And no, I was not at the backing call. I was not he also denies .

the family's allegation that he treated courtney's case is less important because of the lifestyle SHE LED and the people SHE associated with. But how did you feel about the fact that the family was kind of doing their own investigation, playing the role of detective.

and that there was interference without investigation.

was IT .

interfering? They wanted to know everything we did. They wanted to know who we talk to, what we ask. And that's not some things that we we are usually divulge.

They felt that they were calling you with with tips and leads that you either weren't following or or weren't following well enough. You.

they would, I felt like, send me on a whole bunch war goose chases.

And the detective wondered, was there more to IT than that a year and a half after courtney murder, surgeon Greens ears one up when he heard something that none of the family members had ever mentioned, something that suddenly cast real suspicion on them.

We end up getting a anonymous phone call at first saying to us, uh, follow the money.

What does that mean to you?

Follow the money. At that point, I didn't know what I mean. So then we started to try to track down why was yet seeing who was saying IT as I came in? anonymous. Ly, at first.

Investigators soon track the called a courtney's grandfather. The man told police that his son, courtney's father, had once been injured on the job. He lost a leg and received a settlement.

and when he passed away, corton was to beneficiary.

Courtney was in great school when her father died and apparently had no idea he'd left what would become a small fortune.

Every five years he got a lom song, and I doubt every five years, all the way up to three hundred, four hundred thousand dollars or so, they start coming to her and her name.

They meaning checks fifteen hundred dollars every month. That was just the start. Detectives learnt that a few months before courtney died, he had received a check for twenty thousand dollars. And where there's money, often there's a motive .

talking to people. This is maybe he calls a little bit strife between her and a mom. We had some indication that her, my mom, had argued about the money, and that was a problem for for correctly. Apparently.

surgeon Green founded strange that steffani had failed to mention any of this. And there are many conversations. So in march two thousand six, seventeen months after courtney's body was found, he called stephane down to the station for questioning. Now you're on the potential suspect .

list of theirs, I guess. So I gladly gave my DNA. I did whatever they asked me to do. I CoOperated one hundred percent.

Steph anie even took a polygraph.

I asked me, like, all these questions, like, do you know who killed your job? Did you help kill court me all these horrible questions, which I understand .

you .

have to do. Insensitive as IT seems, a IT has to be addressed at some point. We had the eggs.

And as far as the issue that landed steffy in police cross hairs, courtney mom said she's known about the money all along and managed IT until her daughter turned eighteen. So maybe you wanted courtney's money, right? As would I go to you. If he died, I assume .

that I would go back to his family, but I didn't IT came to me.

Was anything he was saying suspicious to that? No, he might know something about the murder? no. Did he pass the poligrafia SHE? Courtney's mom was in the clear, but another member of the family was about to face the same treatment, and her visit to the police station ended in far more troubling fashion.

I went ballistic. I lost IT. I ripped the stuff off. I was about to lose my mind.

Just days after courtney's mom step henie, walked out at the police station and out from under any cloud of suspicion, courtney's sister got a call. IT was surgeon Green.

he said. They said, you come down to the station tomorrow morning, nine o'clock. And he said, I have some information on your sister.

Are you thinking maybe there's been an arrest?

I didn't know what I was. I just know that there was a information and I .

was all for IT seventeen months had passed without any promising leads. And courtney cocos murder as police that offer the police station. Maybe that was now about to change.

I went down there and he open the door, and there were two FBI ages and two police officers, or detective, sitting at at this long table. First he said, is you in big trouble?

So now they're .

looking at you.

Yes, we felt like less knew more than was he was, was given us.

Lace does have a record of mister ma robbery and assault. Nervously, SHE agreed to answer questions about her sister and was wired up for a polygraph test. Are they treating you like a suspect in your sister's murder?

Yes.

we started the polygraph though for you you came out and his exact words IT will be a miracle if he passed his days at this point because she's lying .

or she's just not handling the .

test very well. Apparently SHE wasn't being true with .

okay licences. He told the truth, but got stressed and overwhelmed by the long .

drawn out interview, I want to say, is like six hours or seven hours or so.

you they think that you killed cortina or know someone who did or know someone.

yes, mean they were put in .

on me the questions for lace, just like those asked of her mother. Well, they had a nerve when they asked you, did you kill courtine?

I went ballistic. I lost IT. I said, no, I didn't you, my sister and I was like me, what I try to do to me and I rip the paragraph of I was leaving. He said, if you don't come back here to more, more and retina this test, this can look like you killed her sister and my man was so Brown because I know, I think you, sir.

surgeon Green wasn't in the room at the time, but he heard, what happened. What do you think about that when you find out that he runs out on interview?

What would you think I wanted? Know you think i'm thinking that that stopping that, he knows that she's not killing us.

So you're thinking like now lace could be the key to potentially solving this murder, yes, but you don't know .

exactly .

why leaves the station. Is he a suspect now?

He is probably more of a person of interest than he was before he came in.

responded, lace called her mom, did that bother you? That lace was question very much.

So yes. And SHE was on serious medicine at that time, and they didn't even allow her to take her medicine or get anything to eat or drink. And like, almost eight hours. And he was in tears, but he went back the next day and finished .

place past the polygraph, but remained under suspicion. So if you thought courtney's family was fed up with detective Green before, well, they were about to turn up the heat by turning to his boss.

I told the police chief, I said, I do not want detective great or corney's case. Please take him off. I just wanted somebody that would give me answer.

I was told about achieve. I've been set up all night trying to figure out how to fire you. I like, are you serious? Fire me for what he said that are you told them that they are possible suspects? Well, yeah, I don't know who killed her. Do you know? Do they know?

Could you sort of see their point that a lot of time had gone by and there was no arrest? Maybe time for some fresh eyes.

maybe I mean, and I didn't have a problem with that.

that heard a little bit that I mean, did you want to see IT through?

You want to continue to try to then I don't want to finish. I mean, yeah, he was hopeful, but i'm also a professional. Yeah, so if that was decision to be made, I had to move on.

Surgeon Green wasn't fired, but was really assigned. And eventually another detective was put on the case. But first, a new revelation would hit courtney's family, one that would Allene everything they thought they knew about her murder.

And he said, i'm here to tell you all that your death was an accidental death.

Years passed until somehow IT had been a decade since the murder of courtney coco. The case had gone bitterly cold. The frustration must have just been overwhelming, not having answers.

Yes, man, I even came to the realization that her murder might never be solved. And I gave IT to the lord. I said, you know who did this? And the ultimate justice will come from you. You didn't give up, no, but I wanted to. So many times I I was hard.

Desperate for answers, courtney's family asked yet another agency for help. The local a share of office, they also joined a group called parents of murdered children. And eventually they even reached out to date line. And we featured courtney story online in our cold case spotlight series. Meanwhile, they did whatever they could to keep courtney case in the public eye.

We did any march, candle visual victims march, anything we could do cortin's .

family double down on their search for answers, and had the binders of information to prove IT. When I look at this, all all of the the materials I think of, like your own little war room.

every little tip that would come through, whether IT was wrote on a regular piece of paper.

a receive, we thought IT courtney's grama there saw flashes of hope, and I see of despair. I know you, you're the matter. What was you're feeling as you're watching them go through this?

IT was very, very hopeful because annoys every time a new tip came in their eyes later. And there were times when felt liking out there by our sales and that if we were onna give help, we had to try to help ourselves.

The police said they were doing their best, but that did nothing to ease the family's frustration that put a strain on daily life. And across the state line, IT had also taken a toll on texas. Detective David rebelled, who ended up leaving the share of office.

I got to the point where I wouldn't do anything else on the case. Did IT for me apart. I was on depression medication from the doctor. I had another hot .

because of this case.

I just feel t like I fail the family. I'm not doing my job. I'm not good enough. What else can I do? These people are hurt. One of IT was my child, and i'm laying bed wondering how my child died, who killed her.

Then in twenty sixteen, twelve years after the murder came up, bomb shell, the family was called together, not by the Alexander Y. A police department or by the investigators in texas, but by the lousianner share of office. IT turned out the share of office had answered the families plea for help, but hadn't told them they'd ordered new lab test. Another family stood before a detective who was holding some documents.

He hands as each one of a copy of a second and toxicology gy report that they did on courteous blood.

The detective told courtney family the share of office had ordered a new talk screen on a violent courtney's blood that had been stored in evidence since the murder. He said. IT revealed prescription pain medication and a large amount of alcohol and .

courtney system, he said, i'm here to tell you that your daughters death was an accidental death. SHE odey, like what?

But the first auto py, there is no sign of of drugs or alcohol.

The first toxicology report was no drugs or alcohol in her system, but he said, if I had to classify your daughter's death right now, that would be accidental. I was like forward. I was like in a state of shock.

I'm like SHE was lasting in a store that night. If SHE had taken all these drugs, there was no way he could have walked. I look straight him and I said, hold on a second. Courtney did not put her body in the trunk of a car and go dump her self in texas if somebody's were responsible for that and and we will not accept this answer, did you have to .

think that that IT was possible, that he may be maybe the first autos y was messed up, that SHE really did od, and then someone transported her body to the scene. no. And we never down in the first autopsy ort, because they had her actual body, they tested her actual spelling and everything right then in there, i've heard of anybody going from a clean talk screen to suddenly, with all these drugs in their system.

we weren't going to believe IT.

Courtney's family .

believed law enforcement just wanted to close the case, be done with all of IT and done with them. Days later, steph anie called the detective and I said.

i'm not banned IT. I don't believe IT for a minute. Keep digging. I said, until you can tell me who put my daughter's body and that built in that he was in in this case is not solved.

But if the louie and a share, if wanted to be done with the courtney coco case, well, in one sense, IT worked because stephane and her family, we're now done with official launch cement channels. You've decide if they're not gonna do IT they're not going to solve this.

I am, i'm gonna get someone. I wanted a private investigator, somebody.

a family member, happened to know someone with a passion for cold cases. His name is woody, over ten, a former criminal investigator for the lousianner state police with over twenty years in enforcement. But in twenty nineteen he added a new line to his resume.

body life, rocard, pycke true crime .

podcast .

I said, everybody loves your boy, said, I love your stories. You need to start a podcast .

corney's mom steph anie had spoken to woody years before about her frustration with local law forceful. But after his podcast launched, SHE reached out to him again. Could he help? Cracked courtney .

case not big. I said, please help me. And and he knows the law like the .

back of hand hand and like to step in day. I tell you why I must all of this case on the dad trying .

move is a reaction to that.

He cried ah finely .

someone right people .

been promised in herself when I was sixteen years.

At that point something tells me he could feel that you meant right.

Well, I did.

Woody took on the case and went on the air .

i'm your host, woody, over ten and .

as his listeners responded, IT wasn't long before he came face to face with someone who said he knew cortin's killer.

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Former criminal investigator and pod caster woody overton has one of the most popular podcast in the country, and he was now delving into corti cocoa's murder. His first step was to take in all the information courtney's family had gathered over fifteen years, what did you make .

of the family spoiled? That was just amazing, amazing testament to his family not ever given up. People call them with or telling this and tell them that they had everything read. Now.

what he chased down leads from the families files .

is just more than see what I used to do work in the case actively boots on the grounds, what I call IT in every week of a releasing episode, what I was doing on the pig cast. Today, we are going to beginning a new chapter .

in september twenty nineteen, woody said courtney's name on his podcast .

for the first time murdered courtney coco.

who indeed the alexandria police department didn't know, and woody was highly critical of the department.

Now play an armchair core back, right? But the things that weren't done, that were thin up red flags for me.

what? He also wanted to eliminate any suspects he could, including members of courtney's family. Courtney sister lace remained under suspicion in the police investigation. And what I, an experienced polygraph, I wanted to satisfy himself that he wasn't involved. Did you take a ense to IT that he wanted to give .

you a polygraph? Now I will CoOperate with anything because .

he's a podcasting now, right? And he's giving you .

a public graph, right? I know that. Sr, so if you want to do a graph on me, do one on me.

Once again, late, took a polygraph and past. Now, just like the police, what he had no obvious suspects, so he turned to his fans.

This case is fifteen years old now, and I do not think I can be solved without the help of the public. And your life is out there.

Lifers is the enduring term, what he uses for his most loyal and hard core listeners. He set up a facebook page and a tip line for them to share their thoughts and theories.

And I just want gobble up every episode I could a kind of reignited a fire for me.

The series attracted new fans like Karen far, high school friend of courtney.

I gotten contact with people that I want to high school with and which group messages going of, what did you know about this and what did you think about that? Just kind of getting information for the first time .

as the tip started ruling in woody set up shop in Alexander and took digs at the Alexander police department to step up and solve the case.

We don't get satisfaction. We're going to take IT to the media and we're going blow IT up.

What is in your face style apparently didn't set well with some woodie says he received not so subtle messages to drop the case.

I had several incidents, including windows, and shot out of my truck. Wars were to vehicle. Another time had to leave bye, Andrea, and get a cabin in the woods while still work. In the case, four month.

in spite of the danger, he felt what he stuck with IT as he, doug deeper, waiting through paperwork and speaking with witnesses, a name emerged as courtney's possible killer, a name he was hearing again and again.

Talking about spect number one.

woody gave him the moniker suspect number one, and his suspicions only grew when one of his podcast, lifers, made a startling revelation about suspect number one.

I get phone calls and hey, we have a life, says her x husband knows the suspect. And when did .

IT so SHE saying her x husband, his friend, best friend, has confessed to him that he did this, that he killed courtney.

and he even goes deeper heart. Now x husband was gone, that we can also have return home in the midnight night smelling of death.

That tip from a woman named Tiffany sounded more than promising to woody, but he needed proof, a recorded conversation perhaps.

like, can we wear? Can we get her on a cell phone?

How do you get her to agree? Because that could be .

dangerous for her? He want to help, and he did IT.

Oh my god, listening to this, tiffanie agreed to secretly record her x named shame us talking about courtney's murder.

shame. Have you been found in .

the broadcast? You haven't listen .

to .

the broadcast at all.

It's under a broadcast. Courtney coco, as they were driving, shameless, unaware he was being recorded, confirmed his best front had killed courtney.

When Tiffany any called wordy and told him what he had on tape, what he couldn't .

contain himself and on the case, and draw back through the night to get the record in from her parsons .

back home with a recording in hand, would he prepared a new podcast with a message to the man he believed was courtney killer part.

my friends, but you and we're coming for you, and you're going to know real thing.

Meanwhile, he'd called a meeting with courtney's family to finally answer the question, who killed courtney? Coco, you must have just felt such betrayal.

Yes, man.

Fifteen years after courtney cocos murder, pod caster woody overton believed he knew who did IT he gathered cortin's family together to reveal the name. And I you're about to tell them the answers that they've been desperately .

wanting all these years before your .

heart must have just been pounding.

This was hard, and IT was hard .

for courtney's family to complete hand with. Overton told them, who was IT? Who did he believe? I was forward?

I was forward. He was anatha barns.

Anthony burns places Fiona IT since broken things off, but he was once so beloved by courtney family. Are you asking yourself how this possible? Anthony was a pull bear in count his funeral.

He helped to erect the cross. Yes, laces fc is you're fia, my former. You're sleeping with a killer. Essentially, if if what his investigation is right?

Yes, I started thinking of all the time he came in and late in the same bear with me, no one that he was a killer, and he could have easily killed me.

You must have just felt such betrayal by Anthony. He'd been such a big part of your lives.

Yes, man, I didn't want to believe IT stefany .

cried and ran out the ring. All the merron, they're blown away.

What is podcast wasn't enough to arrest Anthony, but IT was enough to get the Alexander Y. A. Police department to revive its investigation.

The podcast gained significant moments. IT brought the case back to life.

Tenor drive was the detective who took IT over and told courtney family, how did the family reacts?

They were so happy. They were excited. Pretty much all they ever asked for was to not be put on the back, forgot about .

woody was happy to, and handed his evidence .

to dry in light ford. My fans were man that turned back over to Alexander department because blessing, so hard in the beginning, but driven.

couldn't rely on what he's podcast investigation. He had to do his own. And that meant starting back at square one.

I started going to the case files, reinvestigate every lead for every agency starting over. He questioned .

Anthony burns, his friend shame as who had been captured on that secret recording. Did he confirm what he had set on that recording that Anthony killed courting? Yes, as he doug deeper, I discovered two more former friends of Anthony y.

Burns had come forward years before saying burnes had confess to the murder. Their stories were compelling, but one friend had a criminal record, and the other said burnes was drunk when he came fast. I needed more to bring charges, and then he got a big break.

As you're going through all these documents, you find IT a tip that almost buried in all this stuff. That's it's gna take you on quite an interesting ride. yes. The tip was from a texas man named jude Wilson who'd come forward a few days after courtney's body was found. He said he had seen her car, the Green pony ac, around the supposed time of her murder.

And he calls his, he, I saw that car. I know it's that car, because IT almost backed into me. We almost had a wick. Where's the location? The dump sight in when he texes where where he was failed .

for the his body was found. Jude Wilson statement might have been a game changer to the investigation back then, but the officer who took the incident report typed in the wrong date, and so IT was pushed aside. I actually .

had a sore because the thought is going back in the me.

IT was only when dyed found Wilson and recorded an interview with him that he was able to confirm the numerous incident did happen during the window of courtney's murder.

Sunny eating before midnight around that temperature.

did he get a look at the driver of the car?

Yes, he was definitely not a heavy fat person, probably Younger person.

He described the driver as being slim, with small features .

like Anthony burns. But the incident happened in a flash. IT was dark, and Wilson got only a sideview of the driver, so maybe IT wasn't him. After all, driven wanted to find the truth. So in october twenty nineteen, he decided to confront burns himself and brought him in for questioning.

right? Currently, if I start date in late.

the detective got to the point, where was he the weekend? Courtney was murdered, starting with that friday.

did you? Was that right? what? What somebody would you been with my family night? I was trust on .

saturday. On sunday, he said he was in bed with lace.

我 来来来 喝一杯。

On monday morning, he said he went to work and then surprised lace with a romantic gift of flowers. That was his story.

So detective dried and questioned lace, and her version of events differs sharply from burnses.

We need many argue. We got to big five, probably started ready. And then that work, not about midnight, he left. Another time he left. Yes, this really love no anything.

SHE said. The next time he saw Anthony was after courtney's body was found, lace saying they were not making love all weekend. So and there was something else, something huge. Not long before courtney murder, they had called Anthony and heard courtney voice .

in the background of moses.

in the background.

who we SHE .

believed Anthony and courtney were seeing each other behind her back. What's more, he said, Anthony purchased a set of two gold promise rings and gave courtney the one with a special meaning .

SHE had on IT SHE had like the pretty part of the land and had the banner, it's like he bought that said, and get a whole look a ring and gave me ring.

they said Anthony and courtney denied seeing each other. SHE never told anyone SHE suspected an affair and didn't make a connection between burns and courtney's murder driven still didn't have enough to arrest turns. However, he did persuade him to take a voice stress test conducted by another detective that would maybe show if burn's was lying. Is today monday?

yes. Are you involved in the death of courtney coco? no.

Is this the .

month of november?

yes. Are you .

involved in the disposal of courtney .

cocos body .

burns failed the .

test and.

Are you convinced now that you're sitting across from courtney cocos killer?

yes. And when I brought him back in there to ask him about the questions that he failed, he just immediate, got mad in.

lowered up the detector, believed he had the right man, but the evidence was circumstantial. IT took the prosecutor another year to put together a case and presented to the grand jury what's decision?

Their decision was unanimous to invite him for the murder of corning. You are going to .

make your arrest.

Let's go down as dry.

Set off to arrest Anthony y. burns. He was counting on eye witnesses to help put them away. One in particular, had a dozy of a story to tell.

It's one of the most bizarre and startling. I witness stories that i've ever run across, and i've been doing this a long time.

In April twenty, twenty one, detective tenor driven and his partner approached Anthony burns, his workplace, with their guns drawn.

So we sneak in. sad. You know, we haven't had egg point. I said, Anthony, you are unrest for the matter of courteau a .

did he say anything he .

just can't agree in?

great.

Oh, ah, he was so arrogant.

driven immediately called steffani, who was in her car.

SHE just started tron, and he was so happy.

I was at a red light. I think I I think I ran through the red light. I don't even remember that I want did jump for joy.

More than sixteen years .

after courtney's murder, Anthony y. Burns was in jail, and courtney's family had some hope for justice. Lace hope he'd never be free again.

I suffered what nightmare is because I went, think that he was gonna hurt my mama on my grandma because he knew what they lived. Or you are we to keep burns .

behind bars for the rest of his life? The da brought in a big gun for higher hugo holland, one of the most formidable prosecutors in lousianner. Would you say you're the guy they call when they can't win or when it's a tough win.

when the d need somebody that had a lot of experience that usually call me?

And holland works across the state, bouncing from parish to parish. You travel around in this airplane to all these cases around mistake.

either this one or another one, to have an interesting but yeah.

and you build this yourself.

Me and a few other guys know this. This is a home built aircraft.

So your career is pretty unconventional. You're like you're a roving prosecutor.

It's extremely unconventional.

He's controversial two. In twenty fourteen, holland was forced to resign from his assistant D A position after trying to make a dubious weapons purchase, but was immediately hired by other parishes because of his success in court. However, even with hollands impressive record, the circumstantial case against dantley burns would be an uphill battle. You had no eyewitness to the crime, you had no DNA from your suspect, no physical evidence, you had conflicting toxicology reports, was that overdose was that murder create. And years had passed?

yes.

So holland caution the family.

I was concerned enough about this case, so I already started. Prepare in them for a not guilty before the trial have been started, really? Yes, man.

In october twenty twenty two, eighteen years after courtney coco s. Murder, Anthony y. Burns went on trial.

Local reporter bb oft was there on day one. There were a lot of people there, parties, family had a lot of supporters. Anthony burns did too. A lot of people who felt that he was getting the blame placed on him for not a lot of evidence pointing to him. Stephanie was there with windy over ten in some of his podcast, lifers as prosecutor hollen address sed the jury.

There was a mother who'd lost a child, sister who'd lost a sister, somebody that never have children, because of what anthy burns .

did to tell that story. He didn't focus on the means and motive, but on the witnesses he put understand those two former friends of Anthony burns, who said he confessed killing courtney, one testified burns said he smothered her and wrapped in a blanket. The other said burnes told him he choked courtney to death.

I tried to make clear the only way that they would have gotten the information would be from anthy barge.

Then the prosecutor rolled out his star witness, jude Wilson. Wilson was the local texas man who said he had nearly been tea boned at night by a car backing out of the abandoned home where courtney's body was found. But he had a much more elaborate story to tell.

It's one of the most bizarre and startling I witness stories that i've ever run across.

IT turned out. Wilson said he had a photographic memory. In fact, he'd picked out Anthony y. Burns from a police photo lineup. But Wilson was also an illustrator and was able to draw sketch of the driver he said he glimpsed from the side.

I've never ever had a witness say he'll give me a piece of paper. I am going to draw you what this guy looks like. Never had that.

That's unheard of. I thought I was pretty crazy. With a flourish, holland produce a moment of drama on the courtroom monitor.

I took the silver at the jue, and I put IT on like the left half of the screen.

Then he showed an image of Anthony y. Burn's driving lifted from home video.

and I put inside by side. You could lay them over the top of you show that.

And Wilson, the witness had another surprise for the court. He remembered part of the license plate of the car, believed to be courtney, that nearly tea bone them.

I remember the letters in the ice and plate, he said, in the reason I remember the add is because some of those letters in that light and plate are my initials and he said.

I remember an eight as well. Well, as soon as he said that, I popped, courtney played up. And guess what? There's an eight.

I think IT was a big win for the prosecution and that he was confident what he saw. Whether the jury would believe that all these years later would be another matter. The prosecution seemed to be on a role. Another important witness was Tiffany, who secretly recorded that conversation with her x husband shameless for overturns podcast.

Tiffany any testified not only .

had burns confess to her ah's husband, SHE also said shame was M I A the weekend of courtney murder that his regular truck driving group would take a right past the site where courtney's body was found, and that SHE found a pair of women's underwear in his truck. That testimony about shameless fed into hollends overall theory of the murder he believes that took place after Anthony y. Burns and courtney started an affair. Take us through what you think happened.

So he goes over the corneys to have sex with courtney. B, with corti.

He believes courtney rejected burns.

There's a struggle. He murder her on her bed, in her bedroom. Burns calls his budget meus a murder. Courtney, get up here and help .

me that he thinks, shame us helped move courtney y's body.

Shame us knows the area. Shame us knows that that houses unoccupied was go to dump the body there.

Tiffiny testified that that when shame's came home after disappearing for the weekend, SHE said he smelled like death.

He said, I won't even let you come in the house. He smells so bad.

But prosecutor holly could never approve. Shameless was an accessory to the crime. Shameless denies any involvement and was never charged when he took the stand for the prosecution, he did so reluctantly, but did testify. Burns told her he killed courtney shames was friends with Anthony y. Burns had been long time friends with Anthony y.

burns. He change .

to story, sometimes up on the stand. Shameless was sort of a hostile witness for you .

who is very hostile, had to threat in a couple times. While he was testified, IT was clear to the jury that he was hiding information .

as the prosecutors case began. A wbo. He would also have to contend with an expert witness for the defense, a doctor with a different take on courtney's death. Maybe after all, there was reasonable doubt that empty ony burns killed courtney.

Anthony y. Burns was on trial for the murder of courtney coco, facing life in prison. Now his defensive tourney crisler core rose to address the court, and he wasted no time pouring cold water on the prosecution circumstantial case.

I thought the case was ruled without. It's like they took puzzle pieces from different puzzles and try to mash and to give IT.

What was your strategy?

Austerity was just to point out all the inconsistencies in the case.

For him, the biggest one was courtney's official cause of death.

I mean, they still even know how he died. They claim its a homes but fit, don't know what .

would IT be then if IT .

wasn't a homicide.

I think is undetermined. To prove his point, he put the author of that second toxicology gy. Report on the stand. Remember, that report found high levels of prescription painkillers and alcohol, and courtney system.

he says, were is my opinion that this part what could have been an accident or overdose based off for what was in the system?

Did you see that working in your favor?

It's doubt you got one. That thing. I don't know how he, dad, but is a homicide ad. And then you have one that thing, because there is no trouble to her body. The only possible thing I could see the accident over those, and I definitely thought that was working in my favor.

He cast debt on those two witnesses who testified Anthony burns had confessed killing courtney. So here's my question, and why say you killed someone if you didn't?

Well, I think we've all crazy things zone alcohol and make you say and do things that you Normally wouldn't .

do well into a murder. I don't know that a lot of people have been intoxicated and confess to murder. Well.

just the thing. What did he really confess to?

The core argued, the witnesses had two different stories. So what wasn't clear exactly what burns had said and does for shame us, that former friend of Anthony's who changed his story, the attorney explained. He only added to the doubt his client was guilty.

His stores just wasn't add note.

You think he's an unreliable winner.

He is completely, totally unreliable.

And what about the prosecution star witness due Wilson, the illustrator who pick burns out of a lineup and testify to see him in courtney car the night before her body was found? Wilson testify, ed, that he only saw the driver silla wet that night.

He said he didn't see their face and he just draw a regular profile and they put a line up in front of him and see IT, who most closely matched this silly wit.

He did pick the right man. If you believe that Anthony did this.

he picked the person that matched a profile. He drew.

the defense argued that line up was shown fifteen years after quota ney's death, and Wilson sketch never included specific facial features.

Would you be okay with someone picking you out of line up if they say they never saw your face? I can match a profile. That doesn't mean it's me.

The attorney said the witnesses stories did not up and should not have been enough to arrest Anthony y. burns.

Why would he killer IT was made no sense. The family was suggested that he was cheating with her business fiani, with no proof that the .

defense rested, optimistic burns would be acquitted. Was IT venturing into slam dunk territory in your mind?

I'd never like to be overly confident, but I was pretty confident about this one.

The prosecution was concerned.

I told the family, I feel like we got a fifty, fifty shot at a convention.

That's you mean that those aren't great odds? No, they're not. As the jury began its deliberations, everyone stayed in the courtroom, including local reporter brooke buffered.

Both families were nervous. You asking each other, what do you think will happen? But no ill will existed between the families.

In fact, every day something truly extraordinary happened. Courtney's family and Anthony y. Burns, his family, all strong Christians, stood together and prayed.

They came and we held hands and we prayed for justice. Yes, because we were all hurting, they were hurting and we were hurting.

Less than two hours after deliberations began, the jury came back with a verdict. Anthy burns was found guilty of second degree murder.

I can't even explain how I felt. IT was almost like I was in like A A uphills state. Like, is this really happening?

And we were all shaken, shake and so bad like, thank you, jesus. Thank you.

This, for the last time, looked at the man SHE once loved. Did he have any reaction?

He just got his stomach and went down.

podcasting. Woody overton had a much needed emotional reaction to the verdict .

that deserve the problem. And IT was a beautiful mind.

Your investigation played a major role in this arrest.

right? I've done a lot of great things in my career. This truly is the best i've ever done.

Forty five year old Anthony burns was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, but before he was taken away, steph anie turned to address them.

And that's when I told him that I had zero mercy for him, and I hope he rot in jail and then hail.

But he still claims .

he didn't do IT absolutely cowards do, and he would probably never admit IT.

Anthony burns plans to appeal his conviction, but that doesn't bother steffani. You made a promise to me that you would find out who killed her, and you lived up to that promise.

SHE now wears courtney's .

class ring, the ring courtney was wearing when he was murdered. That started this mother's quest for justice. Does that make you feel closer to her?

yes. And IT makes .

me sleep .

good at night. Sometimes I just get IT. This is Priceless to make.

How do you think, court would you feel about? How hard do you fought for her?

My god, she'd be so happy that I kept my word to her. I did things that I never knew I would have to do in my life.

You needed to protect courtney.

even in death, even in death. Yes, I I did IT. And I know I would be .

happy, and I know he is happy.

That's all for this edition of deadline. We will see you again sunday at seven, six central. And of course, i'll see you each week night for N, B, C, nightly news.

I'm lester. Hope for all of us and nbc news. good. Good night.

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