The Devil Speaks (2018–…): Season 2, Episode 5 - Killer Reputation - full transcript

It was a sensational crime.

It had a chilling effect
on the entire city.

I ask myself,

"did we investigate everything
that we possibly could have?"

I knew that this was going
to get really ugly,

and I was so scared.

same time next week?

Same time next week
is fantastic.

Thank you very much.
Okay, great.

The day before thanksgiving,
I came into work.

my line rang.



Hello?
And margo was on the phone.

I'm on my way.

41-year-old mother of
two, dr. Margo prade,

runs a successful
medical practice in akron, ohio.

I said, "on your way where?"

because she was never on time.

- To work, joyce.
- Alright.

I'll see you in 5 minutes.

I'll see you in five.

After about 20 minutes,

I started to wonder,
where is she?

Maybe she got caught up
in traffic,

and then as the time went on,
I started to worry.

An hour and a half
after margo's call,



her medical assistant goes to
get something from her car.

It wasn't but a minute
that she ran back in.

"it's margo!"

margo?

I was calling her name,
"margo, margo!"

margo!

I saw that she was laying
slumped over to the side.

I knew she was dead.

there was not one person
in akron, ohio,

who would or could say anything
bad about dr. Margo prade.

Breathe deeply.

Margo's practice grew to be
over 7,000 patients,

and all of her patients
loved her.

You could be in a bad mood,

and margo would
walk in and smile.

And it's like, everything
is going to be okay.

Margo is here...

what have we got?
It's douglas prade...

Lieutenant mary myers
of akron's homicide unit

is tasked with investigating
margo's death.

Margo is sitting in her van

with her legs
in the driver's seat,

and her head laying
over on the seat.

This was a lot of blood

and a pretty horrific
fight scene in there,

it was clear that
she had been shot.

Myers.

There was a broken
tennis bracelet

outside the passenger side door.

Attempted robbery?

Doesn't look like anything's
been stolen.

Her purse was there.

Her cell phone was right there.

Personal effects were there
in the car.

We decided to just close
the van up with margo in it.

Let's seal it up,
and get this out of here.

We knew that she'd been
murdered,

but the question was, who?

Because it's right there
in the parking lot

of the doctor's office

where people are coming
and going all the time.

Do you know what happened
here this morning?

She called me.

She said she was 5 minutes away.

We're starting to interview
some of margo's employees.

One of my detectives
came in and said...

Doug's here.

He collapsed in the parking lot.

Douglas prade
is margo's ex-husband

and also a highly
respected captain

in the akron police force.

It's like, gosh,
this is doug's ex-wife,

and we need to do
our best on this.

You couldn't talk to anyone
in akron

who didn't know douglas
and margo prade.

Hey, baby.

- Hey.
- Hey!

You have this police
officer who's on the fast track

to become one of the first
african-american chief of police

that akron, ohio, has ever had.

Do you have any homework?

And then you have this doctor
who is also popular.

They believed
in each other's careers,

they supported each other's
careers,

and everyone loved them.

Although their
marriage ended 8 months ago,

doug is still very much
part of the family.

I'll see you soon.

Doug described
their relationship

even after they divorced
that they were very friendly,

and they got along,

and everything
was for the girls.

we got doug inside,

and they said, "somebody has
got to interview doug.

Somebody has got
to interview doug,"

so I ended up
going inside the office.

I sat down and talked with doug.

I'm calling him doug, not prade,
not captain prade.

I mean, he certainly deserves
that title, but I knew him.

Doug, I am so, so sorry.

Yeah, thanks.

I had to ask him
these questions,

and I had to get his alibi,

but I really didn't
want to do that.

Where were you this morning?

Um, well, I was at the gym.

Doug said he was at the gym
somewhere around 9.

Two hours into his workout...

- Hello?
- ...He gets a call.

There's a female police
officer, carla,

called him and told him
that margo had been shot.

What?

And doug said
that he immediately left.

Is there anyone
who could vouch for you?

Anyone who saw you at the gym?

There was a caucasian woman
that came in

and worked out
for an hour or so,

and I got the time that he said
he was working out,

so we're good to go
at that point.

Doug, who else do you think
we should be talking to?

She had a new boyfriend,
tim something.

Yeah, listen, um, I've got
to go pick up my girls.

They're still at school, and
they don't know what's going on.

Sure, I'll walk you out.

While police
search for eyewitnesses

among the patients and staff,

news of the shooting reaches
margo's friend, donzella.

I asked joyce, "well, where
is she? Where is she?

Which hospital
did they take her to?

Well, she is alive, right?"

and joyce went.
My god.

I lost it.
I just...

You know, I don't remember
a whole lot after that.

Who in the hell
would do this to her?

It was horrible.

I had probably 30
or 40 detectives

and uniformed personnel
in the area.

One of my detectives was doing
a canvass of the buildings.

There was a car dealership
next door,

and they had outside
security cameras.

One of the cameras
overlooks the parking lot

where margo was killed.

We could see just
in the upper-left-hand corner

margo's van,

and it came into
the lot and parked,

and all of a sudden,
we could see this car come in

and pull into the lot
and park diagonal.

They can just about
see some movement

around margo's dark-colored van.

A minute and a half goes
by, and all of a sudden,

the car door opens,
and this person steps out,

jumped in his car
and drove away.

We saw the homicide.

It's right there on tape.

Margo prade has been shot
dead outside her place of work,

and grainy surveillance footage

has captured her killer
fleeing the scene.

The problem was, we couldn't
make much sense of it.

We can't tell whether
it's a male or a female.

Okay, what kind of car was it?

It's too small to tell.

Is that clock accurate?

We were able to establish that
the homicide happened

between 9:10 and 9:12.

This was when that homicide
happened, those 2 minutes.

Margo's vehicle
is now being processed

at the coroner's office.

So we have the van up
in the garage.

Have you guys
found anything yet?

We laid a white sheet out,
and we pulled margo out,

and a couple of bullets
fell out,

and then we took her jacket off,
and another bullet fell out.

The bullets appear
to have passed all the way

through margo's body.

we recovered, I think,
six fragments,

which we thought
were six bullets.

defensive wound?

Margo probably put her hand up
to protect herself,

which would put the bullet
through her palm

and up into her head.

What's that?

We found a funny bruise
on her upper left arm,

and it was just a little
crescent-shaped bruise,

and we could tell it was fresh,
so we believe that the killer

did implant that bruise
on margo's arm,

and the coroner said,
"I think that's a bite mark."

all I saw was some bruises,
but he said you could measure

the distance between the teeth
and the angle of the teeth

and the width of the teeth and
determine what teeth were there.

The homicide unit are
instructed to carry out dental checks

on anyone who had
recent contact with margo,

including colleagues,
family, and friends.

I had to go to
the police department,

and they took
a dental impression.

Everyone that worked with her,
we all had to do that.

They were probably
not involved in this.

Nevertheless, we still have
to consider them

and eliminate them as the person
who did the bite mark.

The next order of
business is confirming doug's alibi.

Excuse me, ma'am?

We found out who this woman was,
and we went and interviewed her.

And she was very corroborative
of doug's alibi.

The witness was
at the gym around 8:30 a.M.

And remembers doug
arriving 10 minutes later.

So he's there.

He couldn't possibly
have been involved in this,

and I felt relieved
and kind of reassured

that somebody else
had done this,

and we're going to find
the person who did this.

But interviews with
potential witnesses from margo's office

have drawn a blank.

So lieutenant myers
chases her only lead.

Could I speak to tim holston,
please?

Turns out that margo was
dating a high-ranking lawyer

in a town about 2 hours from us.

I'd like to ask you some
questions regarding margo prade.

I came to see you, yeah?
These are so beautiful.

Thank you!

Five months ago, margo
began a relationship with tim holston.

They were getting very close
to each other,

and she was hoping to announce

their engagement
on thanksgiving.

There was a big dinner
planned at her house,

and he was going
to meet the family.

where were you on the morning
of the 26th?

I had to investigate him
because margo's ex-husband

is in her daily life
with her children.

Is there some jealousy
naturally going on?

He worked in columbus.

That's about 2 hours'
drive from us,

and so on the day
that margo died,

his alibi was that
he wasn't anywhere around.

Even though tim's
story appears solid,

lieutenant myers decides
to have his teeth checked.

But every time that we had
somebody come up,

we would run them by the dentist
and say,

"okay, look at his teeth
and say 'yes' or 'no.'

does this fit or not fit?"

okay, thank you.

We'll be in touch.

While detectives
wait for the results,

the local community
comes together

for dr. Margo prade's funeral.

This was really a
profound incident in akron

because people loved margo.

It was truly awful.

Kenya
was sitting next to douglas,

and she was crying a lot.

Then at some point,
sahara was going around,

passing purple bows to everyone,

and tim, he got to know margo's
family after she was murdered,

and he said, "I hate
that I never had a chance

to meet these wonderful people
under better circumstances."

With such a high-profile victim,

akron police have no shortage
of tips from the public.

This was a huge investigation,

and it just kept blooming
every day.

We'd been investigating tip
after tip after tip,

and suddenly we got
this anonymous letter,

and this letter said that this
couple was fleeing the country,

and that we'd better hurry up
and catch them quick

because they killed margo.

Seven days after
dr. Margo prade's murder,

investigators receive
an anonymous letter.

It names the killer
as adele sullivan.

The letter suggested
that the woman

is the person
who introduced margo

to her current boyfriend,
to tim.

And she was jealous because
this relationship had gone off

between margo and tim
and it had gone so well.

So she was accused
of being so jealous

that she would kill margo in
order to take her away from tim.

myers.

Then we found out that someone
was putting posters

on people's cars

and blaming this couple
for margo's death.

The poster claims
adele's husband, baxter,

is helping her flee the country.

And so we had to get
right on that tip.

The accused couple
have a high profile in akron.

The male was
a prominent attorney

and a very respected
member of the community.

His wife, adele, is tracked down

and summoned
for a police interview.

What is this?

That's what's been going
around town,

accusing you of murdering margo.

This woman told us

they didn't have any axe
to grind with margo.

They were friends with her.

Her community relations
were strong.

She was a trustworthy person,
upstanding citizen.

Nothing came up
in her interview.

The letter could be an
attempt to frame the sullivans

or take the heat
off the real killer.

Do you mind if we check
your dental records?

Not at all.

Once again, they must wait
for the dentist's analysis.

With doug back in
the family home

to take care of his daughters,

police pay a visit
to search margo's property.

What kind of things are
you looking for that might help you?

Well, any kind of paperwork
that would lead...

For instance, if somebody
had something against her

and was writing her
threatening letters,

or possibly phone records
that may indicate someone

may have been calling her
and causing her a problem.

We searched everywhere.

And in the garage,
investigators make a strange discovery.

We found this cassette player
with an outlet to the phone.

what's the recorder for?

Um, it was margo's.

Doug said that margo wanted
her phone taped as a record

because she got patients calling
her at all times of the day.

She wanted to know who called
and what they said.

With police still
investigating margo's former patients,

they take the machine
as evidence.

back at the station,

detectives begin
to review the tape.

the recordings date back
several years.

There were hours and
hours of calls from her patients,

and margo was so loving.

But there are also
other conversations

between margo and her friends.

Margo and office manager
joyce are discussing a female

colleague of police captain
douglas prade.

myers, I think you'd better
listen to this.

The name is familiar
to listening detectives.

Carla was working at
the time in our police station,

up in the courts.

Carla is the one that notified
doug that margo had been shot.

Hello?

The conversation
suggests margo had an issue

with officer carla smith.

Hi, this is myers.

We found out that
there was some rumor

that doug and carla
were dating each other

for a number of years
while he was married to margo.

An extramarital affair
could explain

why doug's marriage
to margo ended,

but the rumors surrounding
he and carla go even deeper.

We were told that
he had a love child by her,

and she was married
to someone else,

and so she never confirmed
that it was doug's.

That raised a lot of worries
with me

because was she a jealous sort

that would want to hurt margo
for some reason?

I just wanted to ask you
a few questions

about where you were
the morning of margo's murder.

Where was carla that day?

And what was her alibi?

I was on shift.

And what time did you get there,
exactly?

She came to work at 8:30
in the morning,

about when she called doug
that margo had been shot.

And is that when
you contacted doug?

Yeah.

Lieutenant myers
checks out carla's alibi.

I'm after some more information
about one of your officers.

From the information
that we investigated,

she went missing
for about an hour.

That is interesting.

Which was during the time
of the homicide.

Thank you very much, bye.

Where was carla for that hour?

Carla smith is now
a person of interest.

We did a search warrant
on carla's house.

good-looking boy.

Myers.

We found out that doug spent
a lot of time at carla's house,

and some of doug's
financial papers were there.

Let's take it.

That made me wonder, what was
carla doing with all this?

Akron detectives
are investigating

the murder
of dr. Margo prade.

And during a search of
carla smith's apartment,

they find documents belonging
to margo's ex-husband, doug.

We had collected some of
doug's financial information,

and we had a whole package
of his previous tax returns.

They take the paperwork
back to the police department.

There was a bank
deposit slip dated in October,

so before margo was killed,
and we flipped it over,

and on the back of that,
it was written $75,000,

and there was five or six
numbers that were added up

and then subtracted
from that 75,000,

and we thought
that was really curious,

so we went back
into doug's credit cards,

and we started seeing that
there were corresponding debts

for each one of those figures.

Started to get a feeling that
things weren't quite as rosy

as we thought
they were about doug.

Margo was living in a fancy
house with a swimming pool,

and she was making
very good money

as a medical doctor, and doug?

He didn't even have his own car.

It looks like the
divorce has hit doug hard.

Lieutenant myers speaks to
margo's family to find out more.

We wondered what
the $75,000 was about.

I need to find out from you

if margo had a life
insurance police.

It turned out that margo had
an insurance policy for $75,000

with doug as the beneficiary.

Thank you.

For lieutenant myers,
questioning her superior,

especially one so highly
regarded, is a daunting task.

But she has to follow up
this new lead.

Doug, do you know
anything about this?

Is that your handwriting?

Yeah, I wrote this.

Doug does admit that,

that $75,000 is from
the life insurance policy.

I know this probably
doesn't look right,

but after what happened
to margo,

I had to fill out
some paperwork.

But he also said that he did
that after margo had died.

He was trying to sort
through the bills

and the things that you have
to do when someone dies,

just picked up a slip of paper
and jotted those numbers down.

His answer is plausible.

Look, doug, I appreciate
your patience with all of this.

I understand, mary, no problem.

I didn't want to believe
that doug did this.

I didn't believe
that doug did this.

The case is still
warranting media attention,

as evidenced by footage
showing doug publicly

expressing his support
for the investigation.

Police department is doing
an outstanding job.

They're using all of their
resources to investigate this,

including resources
of the federal government,

so I feel very confident
that they'll reach

a resolution
of the situation soon.

It was in the
newspaper nearly every day.

What's the latest
on the investigation?

It was a big deal.

It was a sensational crime.

A month into the investigation,

there's still only one real clue
to the killer's identity:

The bite mark on margo's arm.

It was about a month into it

when we were having
all kinds of people

having their teeth
checked by our dentist.

At first, we were just having
him look at the people's teeth

to see whether they
might fit these bruises.

The dentist has ruled
out many of margo's acquaintances,

including carla smith.

And her alibi checked out.

Carla went missing
from her office for an hour,

but it turns out
she was still on shift.

She was transporting
some prisoners here

and there to court.

But there is
a short list of people

whose teeth closely match
the bruise.

He said, "these are the ones
that I want to check further,"

so he would start
naming these people.

The list includes
adele sullivan,

the woman accused
in the anonymous letter,

and tim holston,
margo's boyfriend.

And we had doug, so we had
dental impressions made

and sent them off to an expert.

For certain members
of the homicide unit,

the police captain remains
under a cloud of suspicion,

and they get permission
to check his locker

at the police station.

In that locker,
we found some cassette tapes.

We realized that those were
tapes of margo's phone calls

from her house,

and what were they doing
in doug's locker?

the detectives hear
a familiar voice.

It's doug's.

it's a tense exchange
between the divorced couple.

Doug described
their relationship

even after they divorced
that they were very friendly,

and they got along,
and then we heard those tapes

and found out that it was not
that relationship.

It was not friendly.

But there's an even
bigger revelation to come.

We're in the middle
of these tapes,

listening to them,
and she tells...

I think it was to her mom.

And her mom said, "why?
Why do you think that?"

"well, he knew right away
when I had said something,

and I'd never told him."

come and listen to this.

Margo didn't know her phone
was being taped.

She didn't want
those tapes made.

That was not margo's doing,
which then led us to believe

that doug had put this
cassette recorder in her garage

to listen to her phone calls.

It was in a location
where she didn't find it.

Doug was lying about that.

But subjecting a fellow
officer to further scrutiny

provokes intense hostility
from some of her colleagues.

The police department
was sharply divided with this.

Many detectives and many
police officers and supervisors

did not think doug had done this
and were interested in this case

and wanted to find out
what we knew.

We decided that we couldn't
leave any records in my office

because all of his friends
on the police department

had access to my desk
and my area.

That was a pretty scary time

because I was carrying
a case file

full of our investigation
with me everywhere I went.

As they continue to
review the tapes,

an even darker picture
of doug prade begins to emerge.

It broke our heart.

She was afraid of doug.

The information that we were
getting was that doug was upset.

Doug was angry.

The potential for violence
is certainly there.

Lieutenant myers is
still hoping for hard evidence

that points to
a different perpetrator

when the dental expert calls.

Myers.

I took the phone call.

I was by myself.

The dentist has compared
several suspects

to the bite mark
and eliminated all but one.

They told me...
"are you sure?"

and I physically wanted
to throw up.

The bite mark
on dr. Margo prade's arm

has been matched to one suspect.

Doug? Are you sure?

It is very difficult

to investigate
a fellow police officer.

It's hard.

I didn't want to do this.

I didn't want to be
a part of this.

I certainly didn't want to be
the lieutenant

in charge of the homicide squad.

I knew that this was going
to get really ugly.

Carla smith and tim holston
are no longer under suspicion,

and the letter
implicating the sullivans

proves to be a false
accusation from an acquaintance.

And that's when we fully
focused on doug as the suspect.

We knew we were going to do
an antagonistic interview

of doug and confront him
about the evidence.

It was a very tense moment.

You're going to come here
into my department?

You're going to accuse me
in front of my people?

And doug blew up
and denied everything.

What's the matter with you?

Get out there
and find my wife's killer!

Now convinced captain
doug prade murdered his ex-wife,

the homicide team take
their controversial case

to the akron da.

I saw this case as
a tremendous challenge.

I also knew based
on the high-profile nature of it

that we'd better get it right.

One thing we didn't have was,
we had no eyewitness.

Even though there were
people at the doctor's office,

we couldn't place them
at the scene.

So investigators
revisit everyone who had been

in margo's office
on the morning of the murder,

and one patient wants
to change his statement.

Apparently you have
some information for us.

Yep, saw the guy
who killed margo.

What?

He had visited her office

that morning just to
check in on something.

Yeah, next week is fantastic.

Thank you very much.
Okay, great. See you then.

He left the
building at around 9:10,

the time margo was killed.

He was standing at the back
door, waiting for his ride.

He saw the car coming by.

As he passed right by where
he was,

he looked in and saw the driver.

What?
What are you saying?

Can you pick him
out of a photo array?

- Take your time.
- He looks down at it.

He picks one, and he goes tap,
tap, tap.

That's your man.

He just picked out doug prade.

And you're sure this is the guy?

That's... that's the guy.

Well, why didn't you
come in before?

I knew he was a policeman.
I just didn't want...

But he was afraid, and he didn't
want to come forward,

and so he waited,
and it wasn't until much later

that he decided he needed
to come forward,

but he was adamant that this was
the man he saw driving the car.

But this new
revelation contradicts

the witness from the gym
who claimed she'd seen doug

at the time of the murder.

Investigators double-check
the woman's story.

She started out being certain

and became less certain
as time went on.

The witness now claimed
she could have started her workout

as late as 9:30 a.M., 18 minutes
after the murder took place.

The gym is only 6 minutes from
where the homicide took place,

so she provided
an alibi of sorts,

but one that was not
specific enough to exclude him

from possibly
being the murderer.

Three months after
margo prade's murder,

akron police department are
finally ready to make an arrest.

Let's do it.

- Douglas prade!
- Yeah?

We're arresting you
for the murder

of your ex-wife, margo prade.

What?!

Turn around,
hands on the vehicle.

I'll have your badge for this.

I'm going to have your badge
for this!

Doug prade pleads not guilty

to the murder
of his ex-wife, margo.

We know now that
this is probably going to be

one of the most
high-profile cases

that our county has ever seen...
high-profile victim,

extremely well-known,
high-profile defendant,

extremely well-known.

The prosecution
recounts what happened

on the morning
of November 26, 1997.

Douglas prade,
in debt after his divorce

and resentful that margo
had moved on without him,

was determined to get his hands
on her life insurance money.

And so he waited for her.

He's going to stage it to look
like some sort of

a stranger-on-stranger robbery,
and then her minivan comes in.

She was going to unlock
that door

and let him in that minivan
because she wasn't thinking

he was going to do
something like this.

I believe he actually told her
why he was going to kill her,

and she knew then,
once he pulled that gun out

that she was
in her fight of her life.

In the course of the fight,
he has to bite her,

and then he regains control
and shoots her six times.

Later that morning,
doug disposes of his clothes

and the weapon.

He knows he's got to get over
to that gym.

Hello?

And he's still there
when he gets the call.

Alright.
Alright.

I'll be there
in a couple of minutes.

Alright.
Something's happened to margo.

You need to get over
to the scene.

He drives over to the scene
and makes a big show

of fainting
in front of everyone.

In court, doug denies
any involvement in the murder

and also denies that he's
the father of carla smith's son,

but after hearing the tapes

and seeing doug's teeth match
margo's bite mark,

the jury reaches
a unanimous verdict.

You hereby find the
defendant, douglas e. Prade,

guilty of the offense.

Douglas prade is
sentenced to life in prison

for aggravated murder.

To think that one of our own
would go and kill their spouse

and then lie about it
and deny it over and over again,

put the blame on everybody else.

These officers give their lives
for their honor.

Where's his?

Douglas prade
has maintained his innocence

since his conviction.

His last appeal in January 2019
was rejected.

She'll be forever missed by me,

and I'll always have
those good memories,

and I try to hold onto the
good and not the bad in life.

I'm so sad that she's gone.

I was so looking forward
to her life after douglas.

I was so looking forward
to her happiness

because she was one of
the greatest people

I ever met in my entire life,

and that is the honest
to god truth.