Dead of Winter (2019–…): Season 2, Episode 4 - Icy Depths - full transcript

This is a mother's story.

I never want any parent to ever
have to walk in my shoes,

Looking in desperation
for her only child

In the cold
and the dead winter.

I'm determined.
I'm relentless.

I want justice,
and I will get it.

It just seemed like a
one in a million chance that

It wouldn't be our guy.

We were grasping at straws
and had no real, solid leads.

I'll never get over this...

For the rest of my life.



A typical winter in troy is
very, very cold -- below zero.

Winter brings up
a lot of memories -- sad ones.

All right, I think that's
just about everything.

October 6, 2015,

I was packing up a u-haul truck
to move to malone, new york.

My daughter noel was a
beautiful, beautiful

21-year-old -- smart.

She was a forensic student
in the criminal-justice field.

Hang on, mom --
one more thing.

Noel...

I thought you were
gonna be an artist.

Instead, you'll be
tracking down bad guys.

Noel didn't come with me because
her finals had to be done.

Honey.



Honey, it's okay.

She broke down crying.

I wasn't sure if that was a
separation from me for a moment

Because we're very close
and tight-knitted

Or something was bothering her.

I'm just gonna
miss you so much, mom.

I know, baby.

But I'll see you at
thanksgiving, right?

Hey, is sara
gonna be there?

Noel was living with
sara moore.

Actually, I don't think
she's gonna make it.

Noel was bisexual,

And I supported my daughter's
choices to the fullest.

Just you and me, then.

Come here.

It was about two days
before thanksgiving.

My daughter -- she was scheduled
to come to me for the holidays.

I got a phone call
from sara moore.

Hello.

It's sara, noel's girlfriend.

Something's wrong.

She said noel had been missing
since the night before.

She didn't come home from work.

What?

Are you sure?

She worked as a
part-time hostess.

Noel would never
not just go home.

That doesn't
make any sense.

Let me try her phone.

So I kept calling
and texting.

She's not answering her phone.

Come on, noel. Pick up.

I knew something
was wrong immediately.

Noel, this is mom.
Call me when you get this.

My mother mode
was in full force,

You know, like a lion
with a cub.

Then I just grabbed...

A black hoodie, black jeans,
boots, a coat.

I'm going to flip
the world upside down

Because I'm gonna find my baby.

Debra races
200 miles back to troy.

Noel alkaramla was
reported missing

By her girlfriend, sara moore,
on the morning of November 23.

A short time after that,
I drove to sara's residence

And interviewed her
at her residence.

Do you have any idea
where she might have gone?

no.
This is all so bizarre.

I don't understand why
she wouldn't just call me.

She said noel got off shift
at about 9:00 that night.

Never came home after work.

Let's not panic.

My impression with sara was
she was legitimately concerned

About the whereabouts of noel.

She hasn't been gone long.

Let's take it one step --

Wait. I have something
you should see.

A neighbor of ours
found these in the snow

On washington street.

I think someone may have
dumped out her purse.

The fact that those
documents would just end up

On a sidewalk somewhere
was very alarming.

That's not something
that happens

On a standard
missing-person case.

It suggested that maybe
something truly horrible

Had happened to her.

Had noel been
fighting with anyone?

No.

Listen, we're gonna do
everything we can to find her.

Yeah. Well...

We'll see, won't we?

Sorry?

Forget it.

Sara moore was
reluctant to give us

A lot of detailed information.

I definitely got the impression
that she didn't have

A lot of trust
for the police department.

May I?

Thank you for your time.
Yeah.

I'll be in touch.

I arrived in troy.

I went to their apartment --
sara and noel.

Sara!

The first thing I
noticed when I first went

To the apartment --
sara wasn't doing any searching.

Sara was just home,
chilling in the apartment.

Sara...

You've got to get dressed.
We've got to go look for noel.

I can't.

Some of us have jobs,
debra.

She didn't even want to help
find my daughter.

Listen, however you feel
about me -- it doesn't matter.

Noel needs us.

She needs you?

No. She never needed you,
debra.

The way that sara spoke to me,
knowing that noel is missing,

I was hurt, mortified.

Get your damn coat on
and help me look for her!

Sara said, "excuse me."

This is exact words --

"get the ****
out of my home, ****."

Sara's stand-off reaction
when I went there --

It was beyond fishy.

Sara...

Please.

Let's just --

I was very suspicious of sara
having something to do with

Noel going missing.

I walked into
the police station,

And I just immediately
went up the stairs.

And I met detective bornt.

Detective, noel's girlfriend
knows something.

I can feel it.

Sara?

We interviewed her
earlier.

Well, there's plenty I'm sure
she didn't tell you.

Well, my initial impression
of debra was that

You know,
she was a concerned mother.

Her daughter was missing,
and she was

Doing everything in her power
to try to locate her daughter.

Well, why don't you tell us
what you know?

When we started speaking
with debra,

She gave me quite a bit of
history in regards to noel.

I told detective bornt
sara and noel

Had physical altercations,
and sometimes hitting her

In the head with the phone
and stuff like that.

It was, you know,
"dysfunction junction."

Noel and sara
had lots of problems,

Lots of arguments.

And sometimes,
sara got physical.

Would you categorize
sara as the aggressor?

She's the violent type.

Debra did not like sara at all

And made allegations
that their relationship

Was physically abusive
and that sara was the abuser.

I don't trust that girl.

And she felt sara
was directly involved

In noel's disappearance.

That raised red flags for us.

In most homicide cases,
the spouse is the suspect.

So we looked at sara
as we would look to

Any significant other
as a potential suspect.

We had a three-hour
interview with her.

We talked about anything
and everything.

Sara, you told us noel hadn't
been fighting with anyone.

And?

That was a lie,
wasn't it?

We understand
that you may have had

An altercation
with noel in the past.

Well, I mean, sometimes we'd
fight, but that's it.

Really?

Noel's mother says --

I don't care
what noel's mother says.

I never hit her.

She said they would
verbally argue,

But she wholeheartedly denied
any physical abuse.

What about the day noel
went missing?

That morning,
we had a...

Disagreement.

She was acting flirty
around a friend of ours.

I got upset and told her that
I would show up at her work.

She had threatened
to cause a scene

At noel's place of employment.

Sara -- she seemed like a very
jealous significant other

To noel, and there always seemed
to be some tension

In regards to the jealousy.

You fought that day?

She told us maybe noel was

Just going somewhere else
for the night to decompress.

It would have helped,
had you told us this before.

Well, now you know.

I had some skepticism

As to whether she was
being honest with us.

There was always a nagging
feeling in the back of my mind

That sara may have been
involved with this.

Is there anyone else...

She might have
talked to frequently,

Anyone who might have
heard from her?

Um...

Her stepfather,
johnny oquendo.

And where might we
find him?

He works as a butcher.

Well, thank you.
We'll pick this up later, yeah?

Mr. Oquendo?

Mr. Oquendo, we're here in
regards to your stepdaughter.

Noel?

She's been missing
for over 24 hours.

Missing?

Have you seen
or talked to her recently?

No. It's been awhile.

Johnny oquendo was very calm,
very collective.

He was an articulate individual
and seemed very charming.

You know, she would tell me
about these fights

That she would get into
with her girlfriend.

We heard.

Well, thank you
for your time.

No problem.

If you need anything else,
you know where to find me.

When noel went missing,

I kept calling
the police station.

And I kept calling everywhere,
and I was getting no answers.

As soon as she
arrived this afternoon,

Debra started
passing out these flyers

Of noel throughout troy.

So I started
calling up the media.

Instead of sharing
thanksgiving dinner

With her daughter,

Debra will be scouring the
streets of troy looking for her.

I can't explain what that feels
like to be out here 24 hours

And searching
for your only child.

On thanksgiving day, 2015,

I wasn't surrounded
by friends and family

Or holding my daughter
or having dinner.

I was searching for noel,

Walking all around troy
and putting up her picture.

Sara didn't participate
in putting up flyers for noel.

I believed I would
find my daughter.

Debra focuses on the street

Where her daughter's
personal items were found.

I retraced my daughter's
footsteps.

I started on washington street.

I was standing
across the street,

And there's an abandoned
building there on the right.

When I looked up,
the second-floor middle window

Had a curtain that was
pulled over.

The curtain on the second floor
didn't belong in that building.

My daughter is missing.

I'm mom.

Mom's searching that building.

The building was really
cold, creepy.

Noel?

Are you in here?

And I was calling out
noel's name.

It was vacant,
except for that one room.

There's water damage everywhere.
It's dark and dreary.

The door was closed.

I was just shocked.

There was no one in there,
just a single mattress,

An air-box thing.

It had a stand.

It had a cigarette
in the ashtray.

Automatically,
my mind's, like, horror.

I'm thinking,

"I see the news all the time.
My god, women...

Something's being done in here.
Something's wrong in here."

Hey!

What are you doing
in here?

I'm --

I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I'm, um --
I'm looking for...

This girl.

I've seen a few people
come and go through here,

People with
nowhere else to go.

But not her.

Noel wasn't in there.

I wasn't disappointed.

I was grateful.
There was nothing in there.

I was grateful.

Good luck finding her.

I proceeded to the
restaurant where noel worked.

I spoke to a couple of her
co-workers to try to get an idea

Of when she may have left
that night,

Did she leave with anybody
in particular

That they're aware of --

Basically, any information
that they could provide to me.

All the co-workers
that we spoke with

Got along with her very well.

Nothing was generated,
as far as leads.

But we received
a number of tips and leads.

One was quite credible.

A woman who had been
going to work

The day after noel disappeared

Said she saw noel standing
on the street corner, crying.

It was in an area where
there's multiple hotel/motels

I went to the area
where the hotels are located,

And I started to ask
the hotel clerks and managers

If they had seen noel.

Sir?

I'm here as a detective
investigating

A missing-persons report.

There was a woman in the area,
we think on Tuesday night.

You recognize
this girl?

Yeah.

She was here, alright.

Most witnesses will hem and haw
over a positive identification,

But this particular
hotel manager

Was 100 percent positive that
noel had been at his hotel.

Yeah,
without a doubt.

She was here with a man.

This is very important.

I need to know
what that man looked like.

I don't need
to describe him to you.

Got his photo.

He had, actually,
a copy of his driver's license.

I ran the individual's license.

The name is
warren mark loughty.

All right, give me one sec.

you are
not gonna believe this.

Just got out of prison.

He had been previously
convicted of manslaughter

And had just recently been
paroled and lived in the area.

Get in your car.

We're going to his house now.

At that point, I was like,
"this has got to be the guy."

The suspect was a felon

That was convicted of
manslaughter.

His criminal history suggests
that he may be involved in this.

This could be our guy.

So we proceeded
to his residence.

I didn't really want
to talk to a felon

That was convicted
of manslaughter by myself.

This guy could be
dangerous.

Be ready for anything.

Who are you?

Detectives with the troy
police department, mr. Loughty.

We have to speak
with you.

Just about to sit down to dinner
with my wife and kids.

Can this wait?

No, sir.
No, it can't.

It's a
missing-persons case.

We have information
that you were at a hotel

Wednesday morning
with a woman, mr. Loughty.

We initially
spoke with him.

He did seem very nervous,

But he seemed very open
and honest with us.

Okay.

Okay, I was at
that hotel.

And if you have to know...

yeah, I was with a woman.

And is this the woman,
mr. Loughty?

Looks a bit like her,
but definitely not.

You don't know
this woman?

No.

Then who were you
at the hotel with?

she's someone I know.

He was extremely
embarrassed about his actions

And the fact that
his wife now knew about

His adulterous actions.

But he provided the name

Of the individual
that he was with at the hotel.

And then this particular female

Worked as a waitress
in a bar close by.

Please wait here.

We're gonna corroborate
the story you've told us.

Not going anywhere.

We went and visited
this young lady.

She could have been
noel's identical twin.

She looked exactly like noel.

It just seemed like
a one in a million chance

That it wouldn't be noel,

But unfortunately,
that was the case.

We were just hugely
discouraged by the whole thing.

I mean, everything
was lining up really well.

But we had to start
all over again.

What are the odds?

Fresh out of jail,
and he's not our guy.

Guess it's back to
noel's girlfriend?

About that...

We've got some new info.

What is it?

Sara said that the night
noel went missing,

She only left her apartment
once to walk their dog.

So?

Cellphone data
matches her statement.

She was home all night.

It got to the point where
she was no longer a suspect.

Damn.

We were grasping at straws
and had no real, solid leads.

So...

What now?

We go back
to the beginning,

Talk to the people
that saw her last.

I returned to the restaurant
where noel worked.

One of her co-workers
came forward and told us

That he may have been the
last person to actually see her.

We spoke to your
co-workers already.

Yeah. Sorry I couldn't
talk to you sooner.

I've been away
for a few days.

That's all right.

So, you and noel were both
working here

The night that she
disappeared?

That's right.

As a matter of fact,
I dropped her off that night.

Didn't the girlfriend say that
she didn't come home that night?

Well, she didn't.

She asked me to drop her off
a few blocks past her apartment.

Why?

She said if her girlfriend sara
ever saw her with anyone,

She'd get jealous
and flip out.

Well, why a few blocks
from her home?

That's where
her stepfather lived.

That was a significant
clue for us.

You dropped her
at johnny oquendo's apartment?

That's right.

There was a distinct possibility
that noel had gone

To her stepfather's apartment
that night.

My partner and I returned
back to the station,

Where we ran johnny oquendo's
name through

The national criminal database.

We discovered that he was
currently on probation,

That he had a previous arrest
for a robbery,

And that he was also on the
sexual offender registry list.

We didn't expect that.

We've learned that noel
may have gone

To her stepfather's house
that night.

What?

Debra wasn't even aware

That johnny was living
in the city of troy.

There's something you
may not know

About your
ex-husband, debra.

What is it?

Johnny oquendo was
a registered sex offender.

No.

No. No.

I would have known.

Debra had been married
to johnny oquendo,

And even though they were
still legally married,

They had been split up
for several years.

I...

I knew about the robbery.

Even though he was guilty
of the crime he committed,

He had a desire
to better himself.

But I had no idea
that johnny oquendo

Was on the
sexual-offender registry.

What did he do?

I was flipping out.
I was floored.

Talk about deception.

That's the problem.

I'm not entirely sure.

The case is sealed.

I was in shock when I had
got wind that noel

Was in contact with oquendo.

Noel hated johnny.

There'd be no reason
for her to see him.

None of this
makes any sense.

Don't worry.

We're gonna
talk to him again.

I give you my word.

Thank you.

We make the decision
that we're going

To johnny oquendo's residence.

Mr. Oquendo.

Mr. Oquendo,
come to the door.

There's nobody in the apartment.
We don't have a search warrant.

We don't search the apartment.

You see that?

Yeah.

The one thing I notice

Was the staircase banister is
just absolutely destroyed.

The hell is this?

It -- it almost looks like
something crashed into it.

Maybe the neighbors
saw something.

Yeah.

The first-floor tenants
told us a story.

The particular evening
that noel went missing,

They heard this huge crash
and bang outside their door.

They opened the door to see
a very large suitcase

Had just smashed through
the staircase banister.

Suitcase?
Yeah.

Whose was it?

The guy upstairs --
oquendo.

He was pushing it down
the stairwell,

And I guess he
lost control.

It was highly suspicious.

My gut told me that it was
probably noel in that suitcase.

What happened next?

Well, I saw johnny wrestling
with the suitcase.

He was trying to pick it up,
so I offered to help.

What'd he say?

Whatever was inside it,
he didn't want us to touch it.

Do you know
where he went?

Yeah.

The first-floor tenants
said that

When he exited
the apartment building,

He took a right and
proceeded north on 3rd street.

Thank you
for your time.

This was a real
turn of events for us.

Our victim's stepfather
was now our primary suspect.

Detectives
track down johnny oquendo

And bring him in
for questioning.

He says he has
information

As to her whereabouts and that
he did see her that night.

They're huge statements
that he was going to tell us

Exactly what we needed to know
so we can locate noel.

But unfortunately,
it didn't turn out that way.

I knew at that point we weren't
gonna get any additional

Information from johnny oquendo.

I thought he had
probably killed noel,

But we still hadn't obtained
noel's body,

So we still would have
a difficult time

Charging him with homicide.

We recruited the assistance
of the fbi.

Go for bornt.

They provided a number of
special agents to assist us.

We found
a surveillance tape.

Is oquendo on the tape?

We were able to obtain
a surveillance video.

You might want to come in
and take a look.

And on one of the video cameras
that was owned by the city,

The analysts spotted what
appeared to be a male figure

Dragging a suitcase behind him.

Look at him.

There's the suitcase.

Is that oquendo?

In my opinion, it seemed he was
heading towards the hudson river

To dispose of the suitcase
because 10 minutes later,

We see the same subject
on that same camera

Returning from the area of the
hudson river without a suitcase.

Oof.

The video was not clear enough

To identify him
as johnny oquendo,

But it just seemed very
far-fetched at 11:00 at night

That anybody else
in the city of troy

Would be pulling a suitcase.

It's not enough.

It's simply not
enough.

To get a conviction for murder,
we need beyond reasonable doubt.

If she's dead,
we need to find the body.

We were near positive
that the suitcase

Had been disposed of
in the hudson river.

On that day, we contacted
the new york state dive team

To assist us in searching
for the suitcase.

Guys, focus up.

All right, come together.

This is where we think the
suspect may have been heading.

So we start here
and then expand.

It's cold out there.

It's not getting
any warmer.

Let's get things going.

Let's go.

It was December.

The hudson river
is extremely cold.

It's just barely above freezing.

The hudson river
is hundreds of miles long,

And we cannot search
the entire thing.

You guys find anything yet?

Negative, sir.

Wait a minute.

I think I have an idea.

What do you got?

We need a pig.

A pig?

We took a deceased pig

And put it into a suitcase
and dropped that into the river

And monitored its progression
down the river.

Pigs that density, muscle
density, and organ size

Are very similar
to that of an adult female.

Status.

No change.

The case is still floating.

After probably about
3 or 4 miles,

It showed no signs of
submerging.

God.

Her body could have floated
hundreds of miles by now.

After several weeks
of the divers searching the area

Where we thought
the suitcase might be,

We came up with nothing.

What do we do?

It started to become
very daunting

'cause now we're looking
for a needle in a haystack.

If we have to...

Search the entire river.

This had been going on
since thanksgiving.

It was holidays,
and new year's was coming,

And christmas was horrific.

I sat alone,
indian-style, crying.

I didn't even have
nothing to eat.

That's what I did for christmas.

I cried.

I prayed.

I kept trying her phone,
even though there was no answer.

"it was hard" is an
understatement.

I took the missing-persons
thing from my daughter

And I taped it in the window.

And then the church bells
would go off,

And I just had hope.

We searched for the
suitcase for nearly a month.

I was on the shoreline
pretty much all day, every day.

The new york state divers
are very meticulous.

They were pulling up debris,
such as eyeglasses,

Necklaces, bracelets,

Things as small
and as minute as that.

So there's no way possible
they would ever miss a suitcase.

The fact that our pig experiment
traveled such a great distance,

We thought that maybe
it is quite plausible

That the suitcase was
in the area of the albany port.

After several weeks,

We were 8 miles south of
where it was originally dumped.

Detective bornt,
detective bornt, come in.

Go for bornt.

Got something.

I'm on my way.

They had located the suitcase.

As soon as that suitcase
came out of the water,

I knew exactly
what that smell was.

It was death.

It was noel.

She was totally naked.

She was in the fetal position

With her face down
in the suitcase.

That's something
I'll never forget.

You can't imagine the mind
of the person that would

Do such a thing.

But we finally have
the capability

To initiate homicide charges
against johnny oquendo.

We got him.

I've got to call
her mother.

I was in my living room,
and my cellphone rang.

It was detective bornt,

And he told me
that a body had been found.

It was noel.

I was in denial

Right up until
the very last second

'cause that's something you
don't want to hear.

I just, like, crumbled.

That's where
my whole life changed.

That's everything.
I don't even...

Catastrophic's an
understatement.

No, no, no.

No, no, no, no.

No.

No, I'm fine.

I couldn't have asked
for a better daughter at all.

And I don't have that anymore.

And no one understands that...

Because it wasn't
their daughter.

It was my daughter.

We had no real theory
as to why

She would want to go
to johnny oquendo's apartment.

It could have been
any number of things.

Maybe she just didn't
want to go home

Because of a potential
argument with sara.

Sorry for stopping by
like this.

It's no problem.
Sit down.

I just don't
want to go home now.

you fighting
with sara again?

Yeah.

She's so jealous.

Constantly thinks
I'm cheating on her.

Noel, you could do so much
better than her.

You're so beautiful.

Ever think about
getting back at her?

What do you mean?

I mean...

Giving her a reason
to be jealous.

Hey, what are you doing?

I know why you come here.
It's okay.

Shh.

The final determination
for the cause of her death

Was asphyxiation.

The medical examiner
did a vaginal swab.

There was determined to be
semen from johnny oquendo.

Locating his dna

Was exceptionally
damning to his defense.

I think there was
two different scenarios

That could potentially
have played out.

The first one is that they could
potentially have already been

In a consensual
sexual relationship

And she was going there
to engage in sex.

The other scenario is she was
stopping by to visit johnny,

Johnny raped her,
and then he killed her

To cover up his crime.

It's unthinkable and horrific
for a stepfather to rape

And kill his own stepdaughter.

Johnny oquendo betrayed me.

He was, you know, a wolf
in sheep's clothing.

I had love for him.

Yeah.

I hate him.

I hate him.

How do you come out
and murder my daughter?

How do you have sex
with my daughter?

How do you do these things?
How do you live with yourself?

She was bent up like a pretzel,

Her right foot
on her left shoulder.

It takes a really sick ****
to do some **** like that.

I think sara
certainly was heartbroken.

They had a relationship
for many, many years.

I truly believe she cared
for her a great deal.

Must have been
a lot of pain for sara.

I'm sure it was one of
many factors

That pushed her to that limit.

Johnny oquendo
waiting to hear his fate.

As to count one,
murder in the second degree,

How do you find?

Guilty.

The jury finding him guilty
on every count against him

For killing his stepdaughter
noel alkaramla.

How do you find?

Guilty.

I would say he's a monster

That has no concern
for human life.

I truly believe
that if new york state

Had the death penalty
that johnny oquendo would be

The perfect candidate for it

Because of the true heinousness
of his crime.

I'll never get over this
for the rest of my life.

I messed up by bringing oquendo
into my life.

I destroyed
my only daughter's life.

I feel horrible.

I blame myself every time
my heart beats.

That's how responsible I feel.

There's not a day that goes by
that I don't blame myself.

I feel so horrible.