The Devil Speaks (2018–…): Season 2, Episode 3 - Buried at the Ranch - full transcript

♪

I did have a feeling
something bad was gonna happen.

[ gunshots ]

it was just like your worst
nightmare just came alive.

Mccaskill: Do you know anything
about those murders

over in fort worth?

Taylor: This was more than just
your everyday shooting.

There was more to this.

Thompson: I've never seen
a human being

taken apart by gunfire
to that degree.

[ gunshot ]



arlington is a city

that sits between
dallas and fort worth,

which is a rapidly growing area.

It's up to about
400,000 people now.

It's where you see
the at&t stadium

where the dallas cowboys play.

[ cheers and applause ]

arlington more aligns
with fort worth.

It still has that
friendly, open vibe to it.

Taylor:
Fort worth's a good place.

It's a good place for farming.

It's a good place to work.

And everybody got along
together,

and it was just,
it's a good place.



Tabor:
I was working at rusty's,

which is a pool hall
in arlington.

I had just moved to the area

and that was one of
the first jobs that I got

was at rusty's.

I was a waitress
and a bartender.

Narrator: Andrea's boyfriend,
mike humphreys,

dreams of becoming
a professional pool player.

Lois: Michael had such
a zeal for life.

He was very competitive.

He always wanted to be the best,

and he was very professional
about it.

But at the same time,
he liked to joke with everybody.

Tabor: Mike was an excellent
pool player.

He was the state champion.

He played in the tournaments
at the pool hall.

Great shot, hon.

You ain't seen nothing yet.

Brad: We liked andrea.
She seemed very nice.

And more importantly is

she had very strong, good
feelings for michael.

You should keep your eyes
on the table, hon.

You should stop
being so beautiful.

Tabor:
He had that personality

that just made you
want to be around him.

He was funny.

He was happy-go-lucky,
lots of energy.

You did good.
Always.

Always.

Narrator:
Andrea's friend sandra

is michael's pool partner.

Tabor:
Sandy was like an older sister.

Okay, happiness.

Michael:
Game on. Game on.

Sandy was
a good pool player also.

Sandy was... A wild child.

She was cool.

Very free-spirited,
very in your face.

It seemed like she always knew
she didn't have time

to beat around the bush.

She loved to play pool.

She'd drop everything
to play a game of pool.

[ balls clattering ]

they were
a fantastic team together.

From what I understand,
they had a great friendship.

And that's all it was, now,
just, a friendship.

There was a lot of age
difference between the two.

Whoo-hoo!

They kind of made
a couple of people mad

because some people
just don't like being a loser,

but they were gracious winners.

Tabor:
That night, mike, sandy, and I,

we had made plans
to hang out later.

And so we rode over
to sandy's house.

Her brother was there also...
david...

who I'd met
for the first time that night.

Sandy, you got any food
in the house?

No, but I could eat.

Tabor: It was mike's idea
to get food.

They said,
"do you want anything?"

and I said, "no, I'm okay.
I'm just gonna stay here."

bye, hon.

Bye.

[ door opens ]

[ door closes ]

[ metal creaking ]

[ thunder rumbling ]

[ wind howling ]

[ indistinct conversation
on television ]

[ gunshots ]

I heard gunshots.

They sounded like
they were close.

I just ran.
I just ran for cover.

So I ran in sandy's room
and hid under her bed,

and it just seemed like
they wouldn't stop.

[ gunshots continue ]

sounded like they were
going on forever.

When the shots stopped,

I didn't know what was going on.

I didn't know.

I just knew that it was bad
because it was a lot of shots

I came out in the living room.

And her brother was gone.

And so I heard somebody yelling,

"somebody shot my sister,
somebody shot my sister."

and it was david saying that.

It was her brother.

♪

I could see mike laying there
on the grass,

and he had been shot

and he had his bag of fast food
laying next to him.

And then I saw her car.

The car was parked on the street
with the passenger side

closest to the apartment,

so I could just see
basically a figure of her.

There wasn't much left of her.

It was like nothing
I'd ever seen before.

Just... Just horrifying
doesn't even begin to describe

what was... what was going on.

It was like I wasn't even inside
of myself.

It was like
I was looking outside

and seeing all this.

David was hysterical.

He was hysterical.

We both were.

I was just trembling.
I was scared.

I was in shock, disbelief.

It was just horrifying to see
your... your friends there.

They had so much life
ahead of them.

Somebody just came
and robbed them of that.

♪

I was patrolling the west
division of fort worth,

the city's west side,

when a signal 37, which is
a shooting call, was broadcast.

This neighborhood
is highly unusual.

The fact that was the only time,

during the years
that I worked that zone,

that I even went in there
for any type of call.

It's usually a pretty quiet
little area.

Narrator: 9 minutes
after the 911 calls,

first responder
officer brad thompson arrives.

Thompson: When you first get out
on that scene,

you're scanning.

You're very aware of things
going on around you

because is... is your shooter

still right here
in the immediate vicinity?

There was a vehicle parked
along the curb side.

A white male was laying
about 10 to 12 feet

from the passenger side
of the vehicle,

obviously deceased.

The second victim
was still seated

behind the wheel of the car.

♪

what I saw,
my initial thought was,

"this must not have been
a shooting.

There must have been some kind
of explosion inside that car."

her remains
were terribly traumatized

in 32 years
as a law-enforcement officer,

I have never seen a human being
taken apart by gunfire

to that degree.

Mccaskill: Nothing was taken
from the vehicle.

Thompson: It did not have
the appearances of a robbery.

You can usually tell by
what we consider overkill

that this was very personal.

Narrator: The detectives
look for evidence

to determine the type of weapon
that killed sandra and mike.

There were 26 ejected
shell casings recovered

out there that night.

One of the things
about the shell casings

that was a little odd
was they appeared

to have been ejected
from the left side of the weapon

that was firing them.

I wasn't familiar
with any rifle in 2000

that ejected shell casings
to the left.

Then officer brad thompson,
also a friend of mine,

came up to me and said,
"well, there's only one."

and that would be a steyr aug.

It's an austrian rifle.

Some people will say
an assault rifle.

It was the only commercially
available weapon at that time

that ejected to the left,
left and forward.

As fast
as you can pull the trigger,

it is putting out .223 caliber
high-velocity rifle cartridges.

Mccaskill: We had a very
dangerous individual

running around out there.

I wanted to get him.
I wouldn't put an end to this.

[ dog barking ]

narrator: 20-year-old
michael humphreys

and 29-year-old sandra walton

have been shot dead
outside sandra's apartment.

Mccaskill: They had gone to get
something to eat.

And when they returned home,

that's when
the shooting happened.

Thompson: I would say
that they were probably hit

in excess of 20 times
with a high-velocity rifle.

Everything that's being shot up
is from basically from waist up,

so tremendous amount of damage.

To dump the entire
magazine into it

showed a level
of just hatred and rage.

It was just like your worst
nightmare just came alive.

There's nothing that prepares
you for this kind of thing.

There's nothing
that you could ever do

to prepare
for this kind of thing

happening to someone
in your family,

especially one of your siblings.

It's just... Horrific.

It really is.

Lois:
I just screamed, "no, no!"

♪

you just don't want
to believe it.

It's hard to accept.

And I really didn't accept it
for a long time.

You hear about martyrs
all the time,

but till it affects your family,

you don't realize it,
how devastating it is.

This is our son.

♪

narrator: Detective mccaskill
questions sandra's brother david

and michael's girlfriend,
andrea.

Can you tell me what plans
they had this evening?

They went out
on a food run and...

When the police came,
they were asking me if I know

who would have done
something like this.

You know, it was hard to think
at that moment.

I was just so shocked
by what had happened.

I can't imagine anybody
wanting to do this to mike,

and sandy was
a very likable girl.

Was sandra dating anyone?

Um...

There was this bartender
at the pool hall.

Uh... Derrick.

♪

narrator: The next day,

detective taylor pays a visit
to rusty's pool hall.

Taylor: Sandra had been dating
a guy named derrick.

So naturally you wanted to see
what her situation was there,

if she had problems or anything.

Tell me, does someone called
derrick work here?

Yeah, derrick,
two, three nights a week.

Oh. What was his relationship
with sandra?

They told us she dated him,
but he was working that night.

Got any proof?

I've got the roster.
Let's have a look.

Narrator: Derrick's name is
in the roster,

confirming he was working
at the time

sandra and mike were murdered.

There was nothing to indicate
he was involved in any way.

Thanks for your help.

Narrator: With no evidence
connecting derrick

to the double murder,

he is dropped
as a person of interest,

but detectives soon find out

derrick wasn't the only man
in sandra's past.

Tabor:
Sandy was a beautiful woman.

There were a lot of guys
interested in sandy

and wanted to date her,

but she didn't just go out
with anybody.

I was thinking about

the different men
that sandra was seeing.

I remembered her telling me
about her ex-boyfriend james.

Her relationship with james
was, I mean, pretty brief.

It was a month.

But what I do remember
is that james

used to lend her money.

When sandra broke it off,

she actually wrote him
a promissory note

for $1,000.

When james martinez
came up as a suspect,

we said, "well, we've got
to talk to this guy."

and we found his last address
that we knew about.

So we went over there
right away.

We loudly knocked on the door
at about 6:30 that morning,

and james' mother answered.

Hello.
I'm detective mccaskill.

This is detective taylor.

She said right away, you know,

"james hasn't left this house
all night.

He's been here with me."

so she actually went
and got him.

He came to the front door
appeared to have been asleep.

What are you guys doing here?

Mccaskill: So we explained
to him what was going on,

that there had been a shooting
and that sandra had been killed.

He didn't have much
of a reaction that I can recall.

It was something
to the effect of, "oh, really?"

really?

Mccaskill: I didn't find that
particularly unusual or not

because everybody
reacts differently

when they get
that type of information.

But we asked
if he would talk to us about it.

If I could be of help, sure.

Mccaskill: So we arranged to
have him transported

to the police department

while we stayed behind
and spoke with james' mom.

James' mom said that
james had been in the garage

exercising, working out
with weights,

running on the treadmill

while she had been
in her bedroom.

On a phone conversation

at the time
this shooting happened.

Do you mind if we take a look
around the home?

She allowed us to search
the home for any weapons.

♪

narrator:
But the search comes up empty.

James claims to know nothing
about the shootings

but volunteers
to help the detectives.

Taylor: He was asked about
his situation with sandra,

and he did... did admit,
you know,

that they had been
seeing each other.

We met about six months ago
at a bar.

I asked her out.

We dated for a few weeks,

but sandra called it off,

said she didn't feel
a connection.

He also said that, you know,
she owed him some money

and he was to the point
where he really thought

he'd never get his money back.

Mccaskill: How much?

About 1,000 bucks.

After we broke up,
she said she'd paid me

once she got the money together.

Can you think of anyone

who would have cause
to hurt sandra?

♪

[ crying softly ]

narrator: To determine a motive
for the murders,

detectives need to establish
who was the intended victim.

They look into mike's past
for clues.

I did have a feeling something
bad was gonna happen.

Narrator: Michael's mother
was scared for her son

because he didn't
just play pool for fun.

He played for money.

Lois: I had voiced
a lot of concern to him.

You know, that as he was
very good at playing pool,

he might take
somebody's paycheck.

You owe me 50 bucks.

And I said as much.

I said, "somebody is gonna knife
you in the parking lot."

and I was very concerned,
you know, that he was

so cavalier about it.

And he said, "oh, mom,
I can take care of myself."

and I said then, I said,

"yeah, you could,
one on one in a fistfight.

But what if they had
a knife or a gun?"

I said, "you couldn't
do anything about that."

I prayed every night
for his protection.

♪

narrator: Detectives
investigating the murder

of sandra walton
and mike humphreys

have just discovered
mike often bet big money

on beating his opponents
at pool.

It could be some type
of revenge over a gambling debt.

You know, did michael have
somebody that he hadn't paid

or he had had words with
somebody over a pool game?

♪

we started looking into people
that knew mike.

Did you know michael humphreys?

Did you guys ever play pool
with michael humphreys?

We couldn't find anything.

Not where anybody, you know,
wanted to hurt him.

Narrator: After drawing a blank
at the pool hall,

police dive into the medical
examiner's report.

It reveals mike was shot

approximately eight times.

Sandra's remains
were so traumatized,

it proves impossible
to determine

the number of bullets
that hit her.

Taylor: You could tell
there was overkill.

There was no doubt the person
that did this

had a reason to do it.

I mean, you know, he fired
27 rounds out there

from a .223 assault rifle.

But you don't know who was
meant to be shot

or both were meant to be shot.

Narrator: Detectives
are digging into

both mike and sandra's pasts

for any clues as to
who would want to kill them.

They speak to sheila about any
other significant relationships

in her sister's life.

Well, there was this one guy.

Lomprey: She had a friend
named theron dixon.

He was older than I am,

like, 10 or 20 years older.

He always creeped me out
because I couldn't understand

what an old man like that
was doing around my sister.

Taylor:
This theron dixon...

was he interested in more
than just friendship?

Well, he would buy her gifts
and give her money.

And I kept trying to tell her...

You know he's gonna expect
something eventually.

People just don't give you
cars and money for no reason.

And... I kept waiting
for that shoe to drop.

I kept waiting,
and it never did.

Narrator: Investigators
look into theron dixon,

discovering he's a single man
with no criminal record.

And as they delve into
sandra's financial records,

the extent of his generosity
becomes apparent.

I got sandra's bank statement.

We found out that he paid
all her expenses for her.

Now I want to know
what does he have to gain

by spending all this money
on her?

Narrator: Theron dixon
is brought in for questioning.

Mccaskill: Tell me about your
relationship with sandra.

I met sandra two years ago
in a club.

And we've been friends
ever since.

Did you ever help her
out financially?

I paid her rent and utilities.

Why would you do that?

His explanation was that felt
sorry for her and liked her.

Therefore he paid
all of her bills.

Didn't make much sense to me.

You perhaps think that giving
all this money to sandra

would make her like you more?

What are you implying?

And I just confronted
this gentleman

about the possibility of some
kind of sexual relationship.

Of course not.

She's young enough
to be my daughter.

He adamantly,
very adamantly denied

there was anything like that
going on or ever had gone on.

I love sandra,

but as a friend, nothing more.

I was...
I was a bit suspicious of that.

How can you afford
to lend her all this money?

What do you do for a living?

I run a lawn
maintenance service.

Taylor: Where were you
on the night of the 24th?

I was at home.

Taylor:
He said he was home by himself,

and there was no way
to, you know,

anybody to talk to
about it, you know.

We couldn't determine really
any connection

with the murder and her,

other than the fact
that, you know,

he had been helping her out,
financially.

Narrator: Theron dixon is
released without charge

but remains a suspect.

Detectives search
sandra's apartment

for further information
about her personal life.

Taylor: And, you know,
we were looking...

looking to see
what was in the apartment.

There's something might lead us
in some direction, somewhere.

♪

some audio tapes were found.

We took those away.

They definitely need
to be listened to

to see what was on them.

Narrator: Detectives
investigating the murder

of sandra walton
and michael humphreys

have discovered audiotapes
in sandra's home.

The answering machine
that she had also had

the capability
of recording a conversation

if you enabled
a certain function.

Is that theron?

Narrator: Detectives move on
to another tape.

And the tone
of the conversation turns.

It's james martinez.

James martinez is
sandra's ex-boyfriend.

Sandra had made the tapes,
and now one of the tapes,

you know,
was definitely james martinez.

It was him telling her
"I want my money."

narrator: James then pressures
sandra, telling her

to write him a promissory note
for $1,000.

Some threatening-type
messages were made,

but that doesn't mean
that that person

carried through
with those threats.

That could be a scare tactic,

trying to get money from her.

However, james became
a stronger suspect in my mind.

Narrator: Detectives are now
satisfied theron dixon

has nothing to do
with the double murder.

And there is no evidence
that the money he gave sandra

was motivated by anything
other than friendship.

James martinez is now
their prime suspect.

And detectives look
into his phone activity

for any new leads.

Taylor:
We found one phone number

that was called several times
the night the murder occurred.

♪

mccaskill: We were able to track
that phone number

to a horse ranch
in aledo, texas,

which is just
west of fort worth.

Let's go.
Yeah.

Larry taylor and I
went out to that property

and found a several-hundred-acre
facility.

And we were able
to establish contact

with that property owner,
who allowed us into her home.

She knew james.

He was friends
with an employee of hers.

Casey.

He's staying here
while he's doing work for me.

Where can we find casey?

He's working out
on the ranch right now.

♪

casey.

How can I help you?

I'm detective mccaskill.
This is detective taylor.

Do you know james martinez?

Yeah, we're friends.

Mccaskill: We learned from him
that he had bid

some type of fairly large
construction job

for a local rancher in that area

and that he and james
were friends.

And that james was also
a welder,

so that he had been
in touch with james

to see
if he could help him on this...

this job for this rancher.

Do you know anything
about the murders

of sandra walton
and mike humphreys

over in fort worth?

No.

But, you know,
I've been so busy.

I don't watch the news much.

Taylor: He acted like he knew
nothing about the whole thing.

And we felt at the time,
casey knows something.

You know, we're gonna have
to pursue this further.

Narrator: Detectives take casey
back to the station

and further question him

on his relationship
with james martinez.

Taylor: Have you spoken to him
on the telephone

since the night of the 19th?

Mccaskill: He didn't provide us
with any information

one way or another that would
either include or exclude james

from anything,
at least not quite yet.

[ telephone rings ]

narrator: One day after
interviewing casey,

detectives receive
a surprise phone call.

Detective taylor.

Oh.
Hello, casey.

Casey said, "hey, james martinez
wants to move something

from a warehouse he has rented,

you know, a storage facility."

so we thought, "well,
we need to put james

under surveillance."

narrator:
13 days after the murders,

james is tracked to a warehouse
in south fort worth.

[ camera shutter clicking ]

mccaskill: We saw james carrying
cases from that storage unit,

loading them
into the back of his suburban.

We followed that suburban
from south fort worth

all the way up into grapevine,
texas, which is 25 or 30 miles.

♪

♪

taylor: When you look at that,
as a detective,

you're sitting there, going,

"why is this guy
moving this stuff?"

you know,
there's another red flag.

He's got a reason
to want to move it.

We need to find out what it is.

Narrator: Detectives
investigating the murder

of sandra walton
and michael humphreys

have just seen ex-boyfriend
james martinez

moving cases
into a secure lockup.

Back at the station,
detective mccaskill

gets an unexpected phone call.

Hello, detective mccaskill
speaking.

The attorney of ranch owner
patsy machak calls police

wanting to make a deal.

Patsy has information
connected to the double murder.

She just wasn't ready
to give that information to us

until she had that guarantee

that she wasn't gonna be
prosecuted for anything.

So I contacted
the local district court judge

and immunity was granted.

Narrator: With the revelation
about the bag

and its mysterious contents,

detectives call casey ashford
for an explanation.

Casey, this is detective taylor.

Patsy machak just told us
about the black bag.

Either you come clean,

or I'll put out an apb
for your arrest.

Casey says, "well,
james did contact me.

James martinez contacted me,

and he wanted me to keep a bag
for him."

[ pounding on door ]

hey, man, I need you
to take this for me.

What is it?
Just take the bag.

I'll be back for it
after a few days, okay?

And he never said,
at that point,

you know, what was in the bag
or what the deal was.

Right at that moment,
he never said it.

Okay. Thanks, man.

Thanks.

♪

he looked in the bag.

And there's a rifle,
there's an assault rifle.

And at that point, he says
he got really scared.

He just got scared.
He didn't know what to do.

He knew he had to do something
with it.

He didn't want to have it.

So he made the decision
to bury it and he did.

Where'd you hide
the black bag, casey?

♪

he stated that it was buried
underneath

a horse watering barrel

that was outside of one
of the barns.

The property owner
knew exactly where that was

and directed us there.

So we started digging.

The soil was very loose.

It appeared
to have been recently dug.

[ indistinct conversation ]

definitely something down there.

So we dug and dug some more.

Got it.
One, two, three.

[ grunts ]

we came across a package,
probably about 3 feet long

and maybe a foot
and a half in diameter.

It was wrapped in trash bags
and duct tape.

When we opened that,

the first thing we saw
was a steyr aug rifle.

♪

there were several
full magazines of ammo.

There was black clothing.

John.
Yeah.

Look at this.

There was some body armor.

And in looking
at everything that we had,

at that point, I think
we all agreed

there was enough
to arrest james martinez.

Narrator: Two weeks after sandra
and mike were murdered,

a warrant is secured
for the arrest of martinez.

Taylor: You know,
with what we know about him,

for safety reasons, it'd be best
for swat to make the arrest.

♪

♪

[ indistinct yelling ]

♪

♪

♪

narrator: Once in custody,
martinez's mouth is swabbed.

His dna matches the clothing

found in the bag
buried at the ranch.

♪

with the evidence stacking up
against martinez,

a warrant is approved
to search his storage units.

♪

taylor: There's several weapons
in there.

Some of them had been modified.

He had several hundred rounds
of ammunition.

There was some books
about murder,

disposing of bodies,
and things along that line,

just, you know,
gruesome reading stuff.

And he had... he had wrote, you
know, at the end of the book,

"completed reading
by james martinez."

the best thing
that came out of the search,

I guess, the worst for him,

was a promissory note
that sandra had signed.

John.

Thompson: She owed him
a little bit of money.

Certainly not worth, you know,
murdering her

and a bystander over.

All of this for $1,000.

As things came out
during the search warrant

of his storage building,

this was a man
fascinated with death

who felt, basically,
I think, entitled

to kill anyone that crossed
his path that he just...

if you wronged him, in his mind,

you just didn't
deserve to live anymore.

♪

[ indistinct conversation ]

taylor: He had planned this.

There's no doubt
he had made the decision

he was gonna kill sandra.

♪

[ indistinct conversation ]

he's waiting on her.

She was the target,

but, you know, michael
was collateral damage.

♪

he made it maybe 10 feet
before he collapsed.

[ gunshots ]

mike!

She never made it out
the driver's seat.

Ja...

[ gunshot ]

narrator: On January 30, 2002,
james martinez is found guilty

of capital murder
and sentenced to death.

There was no evidence
to suggest james' mother

knew about her son's weapons
or intentionally lied

to provide him with an alibi.

She was not charged
with any crimes.

Casey ashford pled guilty
to tampering

or fabricating
physical evidence.

Police do not believe
he had any involvement in

or knowledge of the murders.

On March 10, 2009,

james martinez is executed
by lethal injection.

Brad humphreys is present
and reflects on the pain

his son's senseless death
has caused.

Brad: Here's a message I'd like
to see get out there.

It's, "think about your
consequences,

the lives that are ruined,
let alone the victims,

but your own life,
your own family's life."

when mike's murder was executed,

I was in the observation room.

There was...[ sighs ]

no satisfaction.

The only advantage I see

is literally that james can't
hurt anybody else.

The main thing is...
That I loved him.

♪

♪

I miss him every day.

But I know one day,
I'll see him again.

And I know he'll be
standing there in heaven

with a big smile on his face.

And we'll hug each other again.

♪

lomprey:
After sandy had been killed,

we found her poetry book.

And we found a poem in there.

And we included it
in her memorial.

It is entitled
"when I am gone."

and it says,
"for the one I love,

I leave my heart.

For the ones who love me,
I wish them to be free.

For when I die,
there will be pain.

Please don't cry.
I can't explain.

Tears may fall.
It hurts deeply.

But most of all,
our lives we leave.

So when I am gone, look above.

You must all live
on my eternal love."