Buried in the Backyard (2018–…): Season 1, Episode 7 - Killer by the Coast - full transcript

When two female college students go missing, their whereabouts remain unknown for months, until a parole officer recalls startling information that would lead investigators to the backyard of a remote property.

Narrator:
In a California coastal town,

two young college students
vanished.

Gail Crawford:
I sat straight up in bed,

and I said,
"There's something wrong."

Narrator:
Police recovered clues

that painted
a gruesome picture.

Larry Hobson:
There was an unusual
amount of blood

found on the bridge.

Ashley Newhouse:
There was a panic,

'cause we knew
something bad was happening.

Cindy Skelton:
We knew that the person
who was abducting them,



this predator,
he had a type.

Jerome Tushbant:
We didn't know what we'd find

buried in the backyard.

I have to get to her.
Where is she?

Tushbant: We knew that if
we didn't stop him,

we would have more victims.

( music playing )

( music playing )

Larry Hobson:
This case was one of
the most intense

murder cases I've ever
been involved in.

Officer:
We're on our way up the canyon.

Narrator:
In April, 1999,

homicide detective
Larry Hobson

and his fellow officers
set out on a grim excursion



through the mountains outside
of San Luis Obispo, California.

Officer:
At 1:06, we're pulling
into a driveway.

After five months with
no substantial leads to follow,

we finally had something
that could break the case.

Narrator:
Hobson had received
a promising tip

from a local prison inmate.

He hoped the convict
would help them put an end

to an agonizing
investigation.

He agreed to take my partner
and I out to Davis Canyon

which is a very isolated area.

Officer:
And stopping in front
of his house.

Hobson:
You don't know what's
gonna happen,

so there's always nervousness.

I don't care who you are.

Narrator:
As they made their way

into the backyard
of a secluded home,

Hobson and his team
would make a grisly discovery.

After months of searching,

Detective Hobson's
greatest fears

were confirmed.

Hobson:
It was all over.

Narrator:
The search for answers
started five months earlier

on November 13th, 1998,

Friday the 13th.

Operator:
911, what's your emergency?

Narrator:
In San Luis Obispo,
California,

911 dispatch received a call
from a student

at California Polytechnic
State University

reporting that her roommate,

20-year-old Rachel Newhouse

had vanished without a trace.

On the night of Thursday
November 12th, 1998,

the bubbly,
outgoing 20-year-old

went out with friends
downtown.

In many ways, San Luis Obispo
is kind of a throwback

to the way California
used to be.

It's a really--
it's a small town,

but it's a coastal town.

It's a college town.

We don't have a lot of traffic,

and we certainly
didn't have a lot of crime.

Rachel had gone
to Tortilla Flats,

which was a popular nighttime
place in San Luis Obispo.

Narrator:
What started as
a typical night out

turned sour when Rachel
got into an argument

with one of her friends.

Cindy Skelton:
Rachel decided to leave,

and that's when she chose
to walk-- walk home...

...by herself.

Narrator:
It was sometime before midnight

when she set out
on the 40-minute walk home.

But she never returned home.

Nor did she show up for work

at a local brewery
the next day,

setting off alarm bells.

When we talked
to Rachel's friends,

we found that she's not someone
who would run off...

...that this was
very unlike her,

not to be home.

Her absence was definitely
suspicious,

so we had to contact
the Newhouse family.

Ashley:
I was just starting
my freshman year

at San Diego State,
so I was in the dorms.

My mom called me.

Her voice was
definitely concerned,

and she said, you know,
"Rachel's missing,

and you need to come home."

There was a tone in her voice,

and immediately
I knew something was wrong.

My sister was two years older
than me.

I was the baby of the family.

My sister was my role model
from day one.

She was my best friend,

and I wanted to be
exactly like her,

do everything she did.

I just idolized her.

That's just how we were,

and there was so much love
between us.

She was just my hero.

Pemberton:
Rachel Newhouse
had a very ideal

Southern California
upbringing.

She was a very outgoing,
pleasant person.

She had a lot of friends.

Ashley:
She was a perfectionist
to a fault,

and played it safe,
played it safe.

The night when Rachel
went missing,

I got hit with
the most severe stomachache

I've ever had in my life,

and I was-- I've never been
in pain like that,

and part of me feels like

I was that connected to her

that I was feeling
something was wrong.

Something was going on.

( music playing )

We knew that we had
to start moving fast

to find out what happened
to this woman.

So we put up a hand-written
missing persons flyer

and then the media
picked up the story.

Investigators have spent
much of the day here

in an effort not
to overlook any clues

in the search
for this missing woman.

Narrator:
Hours went by
and still there was no sign

of the missing college student,

but there was one ominous
development.

( camera shutter clicking )

Pemberton:
The morning after
Rachel went missing,

several people who walked over
the Jennifer Street bridge

saw a large amount of blood.

Narrator:
It was the very bridge

Rachel would have taken

to get home the night before.

Pemberton:
The Jennifer Street Bridge
basically connects

one side of town
to the other side.

People thought it had to be
animal blood,

but some of them
did report it to police.

Tushbant:
We brought out
our crime scene investigator,

and we closed down the bridge.

Narrator:
Preliminary tests confirmed
everybody's worst fears.

It was human blood.

Tushbant:
We realized
that there was blood

going from
the top of the bridge,

and we followed the trail
of blood and spatter

down to the ground,
where we found that it stopped,

and that's usually
an indication that the victim

was removed from the scene,
probably in a vehicle.

Ashley:
I remember my parents
getting a phone call

that they had found blood
on the bridge,

and they needed my parents'
blood in order to test it,

and initially
we just thought,
"No. There's no way.

This doesn't happen
to families like ours.

This doesn't happen."

It just felt
like a horror movie.

Narrator:
It would take several weeks
for DNA testing,

leaving Rachel's family
on pins and needles

and a community in fear.

Tushbant:
San Luis is a safe place.

This put a frost
over everything.

So now, like, we all try
and go places together
and stuff,

don't try to walk
at night alone and stuff.

Being with friends,
having my cell phone.

Narrator:
Students and locals

weren't the only ones
who felt panicked.

More than a week
after Rachel disappeared,

her family struggled
to hold it together.

Ashley:
There's just no words
for the panic and the pain

and the terror and the fear.

You--
you just stop functioning.

Narrator:
Hopes of finding Rachel
unharmed were shattered

when DNA tests
on the blood pool came in.

It came back as a match
to Rachel Newhouse.

Ashley:
When it was a match...

...that was a shock.

I remember,
in the police station,

all this hustle and bustle
going around

and these questions
and talking about blood,

and I think
it was just too much,

and I-- I fled...

...out of headquarters
so quickly

and just ran
into the middle of the street,

and fell onto my knees
and just started screaming.

It was just all I could do.

The possibility
of what was happening to her,

I couldn't handle it.

( music playing )

Skelton:
We knew that the person
who was abducting them,

this predator,
he had a type.

Gail: She never went
without answering me.

I knew,
there's something wrong.

( music playing )

Narrator:
In late November 1998,

San Luis Obispo
was living in fear

after Cal Poly coed
Rachel Newhouse

vanished into the night.

When police found a pool
of blood that matched her DNA,

they escalated their efforts
to find the missing girl.

We realized
that she was at least hurt,

if not worse, and we had
all of our investigators

working on the case.

Pemberton:
When somebody goes missing
in San Luis Obispo,

that sort of sets off
a little bit of a panic.

The police had to take action.

We called in the sheriff's
office and the FBI.

Within days,
we had resources coming in
from all over the state,

counties, cities,
state agencies.

We wanted to find this girl,
and we wanted to find her alive.

Narrator:
They also brought in
veteran investigator

Larry Hobson
from the DA's office.

Since the pool of blood
was so large...

...we were concerned
that we did have

some type of
an abduction on our hands.

Narrator:
Without any obvious suspects,

the team cast a wide net.

Hobson: We started with
the registered sex offenders

within the city
of San Luis Obispo,

going to their residence,
conducting interviews

either at their residence
or down at the police station.

Tushbant:
We got their alibi.
If we were able to verify

where they were,
we could take them off
the list.

Narrator:
After two weeks of interviewing
potential suspects,

detectives reached a dead end.

They were unable
to connect anyone with
Rachel's disappearance.

Skelton:
It was primarily
just processing leads,

trying to think
of things to do,

which was pretty frustrating.

Narrator:
As the fall semester
came to a close,

hundreds of Cal Poly
students went home for
the Christmas break.

Sadly, Rachel Newhouse
was not one of them.

Ashley:
The first holidays without her,

I really don't know
how we did it.

It's almost impossible to--
to-- to go on like that,

to try to celebrate
and have a happy time

when there's just such
a huge presence missing.

I think the scariest
and hardest thing was...

...wanting to get to her,

because you knew something bad
was happening,

but you didn't know
where she was,

and you couldn't get to her.
You couldn't help her.

And as her sister...

...that was the hardest
thing in the world for me.

I just wanted to--
I just wanted to find her,

just wanted to get to her.

I couldn't think about
what she was enduring,

or possibly enduring,
but at the same time,

I couldn't not think about it,

so there was a panic.

"I have to get to her.

Where is she?"

Narrator:
Adding to the family's anguish,

investigators
were still no closer
to finding Rachel.

Hobson:
It was difficult to get
out of bed and go to work,

knowing that we would be going
in for another 12 hours

of following up leads
that just weren't going
anywhere.

But we had to follow
those leads up,

because the one
you don't follow up

could be the one
that breaks the case.

We phased from
being exclusively about
Rachel Newhouse,

and we started
taking other cases.

Ashley:
I knew that law enforcement

was doing everything
they could,

but as her sister,
that's my big sister,

and she's out there somewhere.
It's never enough.

Until she's found,
nothing is ever enough.

Narrator:
Four months after
Rachel Newhouse disappeared,

the case seemed destined
to go unsolved,

until it all happened again.

( indistinct police
radio chatter )

Newscaster:
San Luis Obispo police

were called to this house
in the early morning hours

after Aundria Lynn Crawford's
mother

reported her missing.

Narrator:
20-year-old Aundria Crawford

was an interior design student
at Cuesta Junior College

with aspirations of attending
Cal Poly someday.

Hobson: Aundria
and her mother Gail Crawford
were very close.

They talked
to each other daily.

On March 11 of 1999,

Gail Crawford tried
to call Aundria

four or five times
during the day,

and never got
a return phone call.

She never went
without answering me.

That was one thing
she always did.

So I was expecting
to hear from her on Thursday,

and didn't hear from her
when I got home from work,

so I started calling her.

Never heard from her.

I fell asleep at 5:00 AM.

I sat straight up in bed...

...and I said,
"There's something wrong."

Narrator:
Overwhelmed with dread,

Gail called 911.

She requested
that the police department

force entry into the residence,

because she feared
something was wrong.

And that's when they found out
she wasn't... there.

Aundria Lynn Crawford
was reported missing

early yesterday morning.

Aundria Crawford's home
here on Ranch Street

remains cordoned off
by police tape tonight.

We almost immediately
started seeing a lot
of indicators

that said that something
wasn't right.

First of all,
her car was there.

Second, her personal belongings
were in the car,

her driver's license,
her purse.

These are things
that you don't leave without.

Narrator:
Strangely, Aundria's
signature keychain

was nowhere to be found.

Gail: She had
this little 8-ball on a chain.

You know 8-balls
where you shake 'em?

And she just always
carried that, all the time.

Narrator:
Detectives picked up
the search inside,

and in the bathroom
found a possible lead.

Tushbant:
We noticed dirt and marks
in the bathtub.

And there was
a very small window

above the shower,

and we thought, "I wonder

if someone had come in
through this window."

Announcer:
In the foyer,

there was more cause
for alarm.

Tushbant:
When we looked
at Aundria's house,

we saw blood,

but it wasn't significant.

We knew that when she left,
she was probably alive,

and that meant
we had to work fast.

Police now say 20-year-old
Aundria Crawford

is the victim of foul play,
possibly abduction.

Narrator:
Just like the case
of Rachel Newhouse,

police couldn't find
any likely suspects

inside or outside
Aundria's social circle.

Gail:
Aundria was really sweet.

She was loving.
She liked everybody.

She was a diplomat.
( chuckles )

She had a lot of friends.

Come to find out,
she had a lot more

than I even knew about.

Ashley:
When we heard that
Aundria Crawford went missing,

I immediately
thought it was connected.

That was just my instinct.

I didn't know,
but that was--

It just seemed
too coincidental.

I thought,
"Okay, here we go again."

And my heart broke
for that family.

Rachel and Aundria
were pretty similar
in appearance.

They were both
in their early 20s.

Seeing their photographs
side by side

was actually quite eerie.

They were both between
5'4" and 5'6"

and about 120 pounds,

and we knew that the person
who was abducting them,

this predator,
he had a type,

and there's a lot of girls
in our community

that have similar appearances.

It just added
to the fear and anxiety

that the town
of San Luis Obispo
was experiencing.

I'm really freaked out.
I'm not leaving the house.

I think I'm just gonna
lay low for the weekend.

Tushbant:
We know these offenders
don't stop on their own.

We know that they continue
to improve and learn

from their previous
experiences.

We knew
that if we didn't stop him,

we would have more victims.

( music playing )

Narrator:
Police in San Luis Obispo

were under tremendous pressure
to find two college coeds

who had vanished
without a trace.

The two students
were similar in appearance,

and both left behind
a trail of blood

and few other clues,

leaving detectives
with little to go on.

Desperate for answers,

the girls' families
tried to take matters into
their own hands.

Newscaster:
Aundria's mother Gail Eberhart
and her grandmother

met again
with San Luis Obispo police.

My mom and I got
in the car every day...

...and drove around.
We went to empty fields,

parking lots,
deserted houses...

places we probably
should never go.

We looked everywhere,
anywhere we could think of,

to find Aundria.

Ashley:
We couldn't just sit there
without doing something,

so we all would go
to the police station

to check in
with the headquarters

and to speak with them
to see what they knew.

There was that hope.
There is always that hope,

that she's just gonna come
through that door

and just everything
would be okay

and life can be normal again,

but deep in your heart
you knew...

that it wasn't gonna happen.

Narrator:
As the search continued,

the case caught the attention
of David Zaragoza,

a local parole officer
whose caseload included

the worst of California's
felony offenders.

I was assigned a lot
of high control cases.

Those are highest
supervision cases--

gang members,
parolees that have been

convicted of rape,
child molest.

I had the more serious cases
assigned to me.

On March 16th, 1999,

I saw the article
in the "Tribune"

regarding the possible abduction
of Aundria Crawford,

and when I read that,
I started thinking

about parolees
that were on my caseload.

When I found out that
point of entry was a small
bathroom window,

which, in my opinion,
a small man

would be able to fit through
if he was motivated enough.

And as I read,
one of the parolee cases
really stuck with me.

He had broken into
one of the victims' residences
in 1987

through a small
bathroom window...

and Rex Allan Krebs
was just that person to me,

in my mind, as far as
his previous criminal history.

In May of 1987,
he committed a rape.

In June of 1987,
he committed an attempted rape.

So I talked
to the lead investigator

of the Aundria Crawford case.

Narrator:
Despite his violent past,

Rex Krebs appeared
by every measure

to have been rehabilitated
since his release

from prison
one year earlier.

Tushbant:
Rex Krebs was
a model parolee.

He was a part
of the community,

and he was even
Employee of the Month

at 84 Lumber,
where he worked.

Hobson:
This employer knew of his past
sexual assault behavior,

hired him anyway
because he felt that he wanted
to give him a second chance.

Rex Krebs
was extremely likeable.

According to his employer,
he was liked

by not only
other employees,

but also customers
that came to the store.

He had a girlfriend,
Roslynn,

and he lived on and off
with her in Los Osos.

Eventually Roslynn became
pregnant with Rex's child.

He was excited
about being a father,

excited that Roslynn
was pregnant.

Zaragoza:
He stabilized
pretty quickly,

comparatively speaking
with other parolees.

Narrator:
In order to rule Krebs out
as a suspect,

detectives
paid him a routine visit
in the spring of 1999.

We went with Dave Zaragoza
to Rex Krebs'

place of employment
at 84 Lumber.

Narrator:
Rex was amiable and
cooperative,

however detectives
soon discovered

something unsettling.

We found a.22 caliber
pellet pistol

that Rex Krebs admitted
that he used to shoot at birds

that got inside
the working area at 84 Lumber.

One of the conditions
of his parole

is he not
be in possession

of any firearm
or replica firearm.

And he was arrested
for a parole violation.

( handcuffs ratchet )

Narrator:
Investigators had no evidence

that Krebs was involved
in the disappearance

of either Aundria Crawford
or Rachel Newhouse.

But since Krebs
had been detained

for violating his parole,

Larry Hobson questioned him
about the missing girls.

Have you ever met
Rachel and Aundria?

- No.
- Ever see them any place?

You know, like I said,
you've had a long time

- to think about it.
- Not that I can think of.

I've never actually...

- which one's this?
- That's, uh, Aundria.

- Not that I can tell you.
- Okay.

Narrator:
Krebs claimed
to have no involvement

with either Rachel
or Aundria.

He was eager
to clear his name

and help police
find the real culprit.

Anybody that
you can think of

that you would suspect
of abducting these two women?

Hobson:
I felt that I had developed
some rapport with Rex Krebs

and I asked him
for his help

in identifying
any person or persons

that he may have met
or seen in the county jail

or he knew
out on the street

that would be capable
of something like this.

And Rex Krebs was more
than willing to help me.

There's a skinhead
right next door to me.

- In here, and still in iso?
- Mm-hmm.

Okay.

He said the FBI
was following him around.

In regards to what?

In regards to the first girl.

Krebs wanted to help us
with the investigation.

He wanted to be
a part of the solution.

Hobson:
He actually provided names

of several people
in the county jail

that he felt could
be responsible for it.

Naturally, we took those names
and looked at 'em,

but they never
became a suspect.

We were able
to substantiate
an alibi.

Narrator:
Although Hobson viewed him
as a person of interest,

Rex Krebs seemed
surprisingly cooperative.

Hobson:
He gave me permission
to search his house,

search his vehicles.

and he wanted to do
whatever he could

to help us find
Rachel and Aundria.

During the search,

we looked at Rex Krebs'
Ford Pickup,

and we noticed
the jump seat

behind the passenger seat
was missing.

We found that jump seat
hidden underneath the house.

Narrator:
The seat looked as though
it had been recently cleaned,

raising Hobson's
suspicions.

We took the jump seat
and shipped it off to the lab

to have them do an analysis
on that jump seat.

Narrator:
As investigators continued
to search the house,

Detective Zaragoza
noticed something unusual.

As I was approaching
a bookshelf,

my attention was drawn
to a wood carved box.

My suspicion escalated.

And that's when a lot of things
started to make sense.

( music playing )

Narrator:
In March of 1999,

investigators
in San Louis Obispo

were trying to rule out
Rex Krebs as a person
of interest

in the suspicious disappearance
of two young college students.

But during a routine
search of his home,

a wooden box happened
to catch the eye
of one detective.

It the kitchen drawer,
there was a box.

we opened the box and there was
this 8-ball keychain.

According to Gail Crawford,
Aundria had a 8-ball keychain.

At that point,
my suspicion raised even more.

I felt strongly
that Krebs was involved.

Narrator:
With this new lead,
investigators moved quickly

to determine what Krebs knew
and what he could be hiding

about the disappearance
of both Aundria Crawford
and Rachel Newhouse.

Surprised I came back?

Hobson:
When you sit down
with a person

that's accused
of a serious offense,

that person isn't gonna just
jump up and talk to you.

The person that's sitting
across from you

doesn't like you,

doesn't respect you,

and doesn't trust you,

so before you can expect
to sit there

and get any information,

you have to develop
that trust and respect

and make that person
want to talk to you.

We're gonna find
the person that's responsible

for both Aundria and Rachel's
disappearance.

What do you think
should happen to 'em
when we find 'em?

- Kill him.
- "Kill him"?

Narrator:
Over the following days,

Hobson continued
questioning Krebs,

hoping for a confession
that never came.

Finally,
on April 21st, 1999,

the forensic analysis
on Krebs' jump seat came in

and the investigation
took a sharp turn.

They told us that the blood
on the jump seat...

belonged
to Rachel Newhouse.

We finally had our first
significant evidence

that would indicate
that Rex was definitely
involved,

at least in the disappearance
of Rachel Newhouse.

Narrator:
But what about
Aundria Crawford?

If there was any hope
of finding either girl alive,

Hobson knew he had to turn up
the heat on Rex Krebs.

Remember last time
we talked about the 8-ball?

Right.

You want me to to touch that
and put my fingerprints on it?

My fingerprints
are all over it.

Ahem, you know
whose 8-ball that is?

- It's Aundria's.
- Wow.

One other thing

that really
jumps out...

is you only have
one jump seat in the back
of that truck, right?

Mm-hmm.

What happened
to the other one?

Took that out.

And where did you put it?

Mm, it's out at the ranch.

Where?

In the storage area
downstairs.

Right, that's where
we found it.

And what do you think
we did with that?

You have to push the suspect
in any particular crime,

but at the same time,
you don't want to push too hard.

I didn't want to push him
to the point

that he was going to invoke
his right to an attorney,

because then our conversation
with Rex Krebs is over.

We sent the whole chair
over to the lab in Fresno.

Okay.

You're familiar
with DNA, I'm sure.

The results,
and so forth.

And guess whose blood
that is?

Hobson:
At that point,
Rex went from being

very open and articulate
in our conversation

that we had had
the previous two hours,

and suddenly he stopped
talking completely.

I see the wheels
turnin', Rex.

I'd like to be able
to put closure on this,

for those families
that have been dealing
with this since November.

Rex, look at me.

Hobson:
I think Rex realized,
at that point,

once he knew
it was Rachel's DNA,
it was all over.

He knew that we knew
that he did it.

Narrator:
Rex Krebs had been cornered.

As Detective Hobson braced
for Krebs' next move,

he wondered, would Krebs
shut down the interview

or would he confess?

I'd like to hear the story.

I'd like to be able
to go out

and find Rachel,
find Aundria.

Hobson:
Rather than make it
difficult for him,

I said, "Let's start it
out this way.

Let me ask this first."

Okay, are you responsible
for the disappearance
of both girls?

Are we going to find
either girl alive?

( music playing )

Narrator:
After weeks of interrogation,

investigator Larry Hobson

finally had
his prime suspect,

Rex Krebs,
cornered.

However, he still
needed to find out

where the victims were

and if they were
still alive.

Are we going to find
either girl alive?

That was a no?
Okay.

Narrator:
Finally, Hobson had his
confession from Rex Krebs.

But he wasn't finished.

Hobson:
Only Rex Krebs
knew what happened

to Rachel Newhouse
and Aundria Crawford.

We need to find out
where those victims are,

for the families.

From there,
we started to get into

the specifics of what he did
and how he did it.

Let's just start
at the beginning
with Rachel.

What was
the circumstances

where you first saw her
that night?

He stalked her
for several blocks.

Somehow he knew
she was going to
the Jennifer Street Bridge.

And he went to the top
of the bridge.

He had a Halloween mask

and he waited for Rachel
to come up to the top
of the stairs.

He jumped out at her
and slammed her head

down onto
the cement walkway,

and then drug her
down to where he had
his truck parked,

and then took her
back out to his house.

Where did you take
Rachel, then?

What happens in there?

Hobson:
Rex Krebs
decided to tie her up

with a rope around her neck

that went down
and connected to her feet

while she's laying
on her stomach,

and if she moved
her neck forward,

the rope would get tighter.

If she moved
her feet backwards,

the rope would get tighter
on her neck.

Narrator:
Krebs claimed he left her
like that overnight.

The next morning,
when he came to check on her,

Rachel was dead.

Skelton:
The way she was left
and the restraints she was in,

she died
from strangulation.

So what you're telling me,
then, is her struggling

caused her
to strangle herself?

That, or her legs
relaxed or something,
I don't know.

Okay.

And then what'd you do?

Hobson:
Rex Krebs took her
down the road

about two miles
from his own home,

went up on the hillside,
and dug a six-foot hole,

placed her in the hole,
still bound...

and covered it
with hog wire

so the animals
couldn't dig her up,

and then filled it back in
with dirt and leaves.

I have to keep him talkin'.

We moved on
to Aundria Crawford.

To use Rex Krebs' words,
he watched her.

You knew you were gonna
take her out of the house.

So you check the back door,
it's locked.

What do you do next?

Skelton:
What we knew about Aundria

was she had a cat
that was ill

and had recently
had surgery

that was locked
in the downstairs bathroom.

Hobson:
All her windows and doors
were locked

except for that one window

so the cat
would have some air.

The window's open.
What do you do?

( thumping )

Skelton:
It's out belief
that Aundria heard a noise

and, thinking
it was her cat,

went downstairs
to investigate

the downstairs bathroom.

And, to use
Rex Krebs' words,

he decided to take her.

Narrator:
After five months,

Detective Hobson
was ready to put an end

to the investigation,

but not before Rex Krebs
admitted to what happened

to Aundria Crawford.

Hobson:
What happened?

Skelton:
Krebs abducted Aundria,

taken her to his residence

where he raped her.

She woke up
and she tried to escape.

Aundria was legally blind

without her contacts
and her glasses.

She couldn't see anything.
She didn't know where she was.

She didn't know
where she was going.

Skelton:
He woke up, and,
to use his words,

he had to kill her
with his hands.

Hobson: I'm sorry, Rex,
I couldn't hear you.

Hobson: She died?

Narrator:
Rex then disposed of Aundria

just as he'd done with Rachel.

Skelton:
He dug a large hole
outside of his house

and buried Aundria right there.

Hobson:
Rex agreed to take
my partner and I

out to his house,
to Davis Canyon

and show us exactly where he had
buried Aundria and Rachel.

Officer:
Okay, arriving
at Davis Canyon at 12:45.

We drove into See Canyon.

We're stopped.

Hobson:
He went up on the side
of the hillside

about two miles
from his house...

Man: Straight forward.

( indistinct conversation )

...and pointed to location
that was covered with brush

and tree limbs...

...and said that's
where he buried Rachel.

We then drove down
to his house.

Officer:
Marked the first site.

Now we're on our way
up the canyon.

Narrator:
Detectives started up the road
to Krebs' property,

where he told them
where Aundria Crawford
was buried.

Newscaster:
Investigators spent
their Thursday afternoon

searching two
separate locations

on the very private
Davis Canyon Road.

Tushbant:
Rex Krebs lived off the grid.

He didn't have electricity.
He didn't have cable.

This was not somebody who was
interacting with society.

Skelton:
There's no street lights.

At nighttime,
it's exceptionally dark
out there,

which is perfect
if you're trying to hide
your activities.

Rex Krebs pointed out
the grave site

about 30 feet
from his front door
of where he buried Aundria.

Tushbant:
It's human nature.
If something works

and you can do it
with less effort, you will,

and that's what he did
with Aundria.

He buried her...
in the backyard.

Narrator:
With both victims recovered

and positively identified
by the forensics lab,

detectives set about
the hardest part

of their five-month
investigation,

informing the families.

The police, they called
and told me they'd found her.

I was...

relieved they had him.

upset-- upset she was...

not alive.

I didn't want to believe
that that--

that could actually
happen to her...

that we didn't
get to say goodbye,

that she was just...

...thrown away, so to speak.

That was so heartbreaking.

It was too much
to deal with.

Newscaster:
For the first time
since his arrest two years ago,

Rex Allan Krebs faces
a jury of his peers.

Zaragoza:
In May 2001,

Rex Krebs was convicted
of two counts of murder.

Jury foreperson:
We the jury, having convicted
the defendant,

Rex Allan Krebs,
now fix the penalty at death.

Hobson:
This case with Rex Krebs,

most of the people,
it's something they probably
never get over,

something they think about
every day.

Gail:
Just to lose her, you know,

she wanted to get married,
she wanted to have children.

She wanted
to have a horse ranch

and she wanted to have
a design career.

Those were her dreams.

Ashley:
If Rachel was here with us,

I would tell her
how much I miss her.

I would tell her that...

life isn't the same
without her.

But it's my belief
that there is hope

for anybody who's struggling
with anything

that feels too big.

There's hope for peace.

There's hope for joy.

So hopefully her story
can help somebody else,

and there's beauty in that.