The Devil Speaks (2018–…): Season 2, Episode 6 - Message from the Grave - full transcript

It was pretty much a normal day.

I just remember screaming
and screaming.

You have a million
different scenarios

running through your head.

There was some type of struggle.

how could somebody do this?

My experience is that

killers do attend
the funeral of the victim.

only an evil person
would do such a thing.

I think I was totally unprepared
to hear

what I was
about the hear on that tape.



North of new york city,

in rockland county,
is the small town of nanuet.

Driving back from her
evening class at college,

23-year-old angie despinasse
arrives home

to find older sister michelle's
vehicle parked out front.

It was a shock for me
to see michelle home before me

because I got
out of class earlier.

So, I knew her class
was a later class,

so I should have been
home first.

But I noticed that
the sensor light didn't go off,

and I was like,
"well, that's weird.

How come she didn't turn
on the light?"

because whoever would get home
first would turn the light on.

Hello!



Michelle?

anybody home?

michelle, what are you
doing down there?

When I first saw her,
it was her legs.

Michelle?

When I called out to her
and she wasn't responding,

then I realized
there was something wrong.

My god. Michelle?

My god.

My god.
Michelle? My...

somebody help!

My god!

Please help me! Help me!

Neighbor ruth ireland dials 911.

I just remember
screaming and screaming

and ruth coming over
to see if I was okay

and explaining to her
that michelle was hurt.

Ruth's husband
tends to michelle,

but she's unresponsive.

The first few minutes
of any emergency is critical.

Dispatcher called my unit

and asked me to respond
into the nanuet area.

It's unnerving.
Your adrenaline gets pumping.

You know, you have a million
different scenarios

running through your head.

when I got to the location,
one of the first people

I met up with was the neighbor,

and they told me that the victim

was unconscious
and was breathing.

I saw the victim lying down
on the floor.

She was bleeding
profusely from the head.

My initial instinct was that
she had been involved

in some sort of dispute
with someone

and had been struck in the head.

I had no idea
what she was struck with

or how she was struck.

With life-threatening injuries,

michelle is rushed
to the hospital.

I just remember the urgency
of having to get to the hospital

and get to the emergency room.

At that point, I had no idea
what the outcome might be,

but I think deep down I knew
that it wasn't looking good.

michelle and I
still shared a room.

I was 23.

Michelle was 27.

We were like two peas in a pod.

You see my boots?

No, but I smelled them.

Ha ha, very funny.

But everything she did, like,
I'd followed behind her.

I'm like,
"michelle, where you going?

You going to a party?
Can I come with you?"

"you're too young."

I'm like, "please let me
come with you."

mom!

And that's how
my parents raised us,

to always have
each other's back.

Mom!
Your sister's your first friend.

Their mom, denise, is a nurse

who works shifts
at st. Agatha's home.

Mom, have you seen my shoes?

Michelle and my mom
were extremely close.

We had a nickname for my mom.

We called her "queenie"
'cause that was our queen.

Thank you, mom.

You're the queen.

And even when my parents
separated,

you would never know
that they weren't together

because they were always
very cordial.

They always remained friends.

Hey, dad.

I'm going training,
but mom and angie are home.

Even though my parents
got divorced,

we didn't divorce my dad.

michelle was a very
active individual.

She was always on the go.

She played basketball.

She coached basketball.

Alright!

Her players loved her.

Nice!

Michelle also
spends her evenings

taking classes
for her nursing degree,

following in
the footsteps of her mom.

Michelle always loved
to help people.

That was her passion.

She was focusing on school
to get herself together,

but, I mean, she wasn't
opposed to dating

if the opportunity came up.

And recently, michelle has
met someone new she's excited about.

So, are you gonna
see nathan again?

I don't know.

I mean, maybe.

The last time we saw each other
was great, so...

I don't know.
We'll see.

Bye.

Bye, mom.
Bye, mom.

My mother didn't leave
to go to work until 3:00.

I was taking
an afternoon/evening class

'cause I was studying nutrition.

So, what time does
your class finish?

At about 10:00,
but I'll call you.

Move. My jacket.

Jacket.
Thank you.

See you later.

I didn't really think
anything of it,

but it was just like,
"alright. See you later."

"see you later."

that's the last conversation
I had with her.

At good samaritan hospital,

michelle is fighting
for her life.

Her family is informed

that she's suffered
severe head trauma.

angie!

The situation didn't make sense.

this is my sister.

She's gonna be fine.

There's no way that
she won't survive this.

It's been us growing up
all of our lives.

That's who I know.
That's my big sister.

There's no way that michelle is
not gonna pull through this.

Meantime,
back at the crime scene,

officer gorsky and his team

conduct a thorough search
of the house...

...And soon discover the likely
cause of michelle's head injury.

Not too far from the victim,

we located
a spent bullet casing.

The victim had been shot.

Clarkstown
police detective frank romano

is assigned
to investigate the shooting.

The main job of the
detective is to get to the truth.

The first job is to look at the
scene and see what it tells you.

There was no sign
that entry was forced,

so it appears
that whoever was there

was either let in or had a key.

there were some items on the
floor, as well as some blood.

There was some type of struggle.

I need telephone records
for the cell and house phone.

Those records
tell a story about a person.

It leads you down the path

of who you should
be speaking to next.

when I went to the back bedroom,

I could see
the answering machine,

and the red light was flashing,

which would indicate
there was some type of message.

It could be an important
piece of evidence.

27-year-old michelle despinasse

is in critical condition
after being shot in the head.

back at her home, detectives
have just discovered

there are unheard messages
on her answering machine.

It may tell you someone was
trying to get in touch with her.

It may assist you
with a time stamp,

but basically it's usually
some very useful information.

Let's take this,
the machine and the tape,

and I want a copy
of that tape straightaway.

Well, detective romano
sent the tape

to the fbi in quantico, virginia

to have their lab
make a copy of it

so as to preserve
the original evidence.

As detective romano
surveys the scene,

something catches his eye.

I could see that there
was a hole in the floor.

There may be a bullet there.

It appears michelle
was on the floor

when the gun was fired.

If we ever recover a weapon,

we can tie that in
to that particular round,

so it's very crucial
to recover that.

it appeared that
that particular round

was a 9-millimeter round.

It would tell us
that it was most likely

a semiautomatic handgun.

Detective steve murphy

canvasses
michelle's neighborhood

for potential witnesses.

I had occasion
to speak with jessica,

a neighbor of michelle.

Jessica told me that she didn't
see or hear anything that night.

Jessica last remembers
seeing michelle on Sunday,

three days earlier.

Driving home, she caught
a glimpse of michelle outside

with a mystery man leaning up
against a white s.U.V.

She had no idea who that was.

After receiving this information
from neighbors,

it's very important
for us to find out

who that individual was.

Whilst processing
the crime scene,

investigators
attend the hospital

to question michelle's
family and friends.

...Weird that she was
home that early, but I...

It's important
to speak to people

that had contact with the victim

so you can establish a timeline.

In speaking
to angie and mrs. Despinasse,

it was pretty much a normal day.

Michelle had left the house
in the afternoon

and was on her way
to rockland community college

to take her evening class.

This is michelle's friend.

A friend named barbara
comes forward

claiming she spoke with michelle
twice that evening.

The first call was at 8:15 p.M.

She called me, and she said

she was getting out of class
early that night

and she was on her way home.

Barbara had received
a second phone call

that night from michelle
before 9:15,

and in that call it was very odd
because michelle was whispering,

and she was telling her,

"he's outside. He's outside."

she sounded real scared,
you know?

She just kept saying
that he was outside.

Barbara said
that the call ended abruptly

and that she did try
and call her back,

but when she did,
there was no answer.

Michelle hung up
before she could tell barbara

who was outside her door.

So, did she say who he was?

No. She just said
that he was outside.

Barbara wanted
to check in on michelle,

but she was out of state
that evening.

It was important
in our investigation

to find out who michelle
was referring to

by saying, "he's outside."

it appeared that it was someone
that she knew.

Between barbara fanner speaking
to michelle at around 9:15

and then the 911 call
at around 9:40,

we were able to narrow
down the time frame

when this happened.

most homicides occur by people
that are known to the victim.

It's important early on
to identify her lifestyle

and the people
she has contact with.

Excuse me. Do you mind if
I ask you a couple questions?

Sure, no problem.

I know this is a terrible time
for you.

At the hospital,
angie and a friend of the victim

are questioned by the police.

It was shocking.
I can't describe what I felt.

It was, like, surreal.

Could you tell us about
anyone michelle was seeing?

Um, well,

she was dating ken rogers
for about five years.

They ended things
quite recently.

Michelle and ken met at school.

You know, she would tell me,
"I met this guy,"

and I'm like, "okay,
what does he look like?"

and she's like,
"yeah, he's tall.

He plays basketball."

so she was excited
about meeting him.

She thought he was a nice guy.

At times, they had good times.

At times, they had bad times.

But michelle wanted
to get married and have kids,

and that's not something
that ken wanted.

And for michelle to decide

that she no longer
wanted to be with ken...

she was very serious about that
because michelle loved ken.

Initially, it was what it was.

They broke up.

But then after some time,

it seemed like
he didn't accept it anymore

and he wanted
to be back with her.

Was she seeing anyone else?

Detective romano
learns that after the breakup

with ken rogers
three months ago,

michelle started dating a man
named nathan walker.

In August of '99,
my cousin got married,

and michelle went with my family
and I to connecticut.

While she was there, she met
a friend of my cousin's, nate,

and they hit it off.

Did ken know she was
seeing someone new?

Yeah.

Yeah.

And do you have contact details
for either of these men?

Um, ken lives in the bronx.

Okay.

Thank you for your time.

After 24 hours on life support,

michelle's doctors
deliver shattering news.

We've tried everything.

There's nothing more we can do.

The bullet wound
has left michelle brain-dead,

with no chance of recovery.

my mom and my dad
had to make the decision

to take michelle
off of life support.

You should say something
to your sister.

see you later.

I've never felt that I've
ever said goodbye to michelle

because I always carry
a piece of her with me.

It's never been, "goodbye."

it's always been,
"I'll see you later."

The following day
at clarkstown police station,

news reaches investigators

that michelle despinasse
has died.

Thanks for letting me know.

now it's a homicide
investigation.

Detectives head to the
bronx to find ex-boyfriend ken rogers.

We checked where he used
to live at 219th street,

they said
he don't live there no more.

They don't know anything
about where he is.

the stakes are higher,
the pressure is on,

and we know we needed
to find the suspect

before they disappear.

Time is not on our side.

Popular nursing
student and basketball coach

michelle despinasse has died

after she was shot at her home
in nanuet, new york.

investigators
are looking everywhere

for michelle's ex-boyfriend,
ken rogers,

when out of the blue...

He shows up
at the police station.

Ken rogers had found out
that we were looking for him.

Ken rogers.
Thanks for coming.

He believed that police
wanted to speak to him

about an altercation he had
with his sister's boyfriend.

It's about michelle despinasse.

Michelle?

The detectives did tell him

that the reason they wanted
to speak to him

was because of the incident
that happened with michelle.

I know this is a difficult time
for you.

But we need to ask you
a couple of questions.

Alright.

what were you doing on the 15th?

On the day of the 15th,

he spent the afternoon
with his girlfriend

and then went
to the video store.

Ken tells police
that he's moved on

since his breakup with michelle

and now has a new girlfriend.

After leaving her,

he arrived at his friend
miguel's video store

in the bronx at 7:00 p.M.

where's miguel?

I don't know.
He's late.

And he was running late...

Ken says he was asked
to watch the store

until miguel turned up.

What time did miguel show up?

Around 8:00.

- Yo, amigo!
- Yo, ken!

You've been too long, man.
Aw, man.

The place is mine now.

We stayed there at the store

until around about 10:00.

Then the circle...

And then boom!
Whoa!

I'm getting a call.

Your girl?
Yeah.

He spent the whole
evening at the store,

from around 7:00 till
after 10:00 p.M. That night.

Okay.

And what car were you driving?

My girl's car.

That particular night, he had
borrowed an older mitsubishi,

and that's the car
he was driving that evening.

we want to check out
ken's alibi,

so we went to the video store

and spoke with the owner,
miguel.

hi.
Hi.

Detective romano
from clarkstown p.D.

Do you know this guy?

Yeah. It's ken.

Ken rogers?

Yeah.

Was he in on Wednesday?

Um, yeah.

Okay. What time
was he here about?

He was here
from 7:00 p.M.

...Until 10:00.

It kind of verifies
what ken had said,

that he wasn't in the area
at that time.

Meantime,
investigators have tracked down

a number for nathan walker,

the man friends say michelle
had just begun dating.

May I speak to nathan walker,
please?

Yeah, this is nathan walker.

Detective frank romano
from clarkstown p.D.

What's this about?

Do you know michelle despinasse?

Yeah, I know michelle.

When we spoke to nathan

about his relationship
with michelle,

he had told us that the last
time he had seen michelle

was on the Sunday
before she was killed,

that he came here to visit her.

What type of vehicle
do you drive?

white s.U.V.

Three days before her murder,

michelle despinasse
was seen by a neighbor

leaning up against a white
s.U.V. With a mystery man.

so, when am I gonna
see you again?

I'm gonna come back
as soon as I can.

Investigators now know
that man is nathan walker.

Nathan had told us

that the last time
he saw michelle

was that Sunday
before she was murdered,

that he did drive down
from connecticut

in his white s.U.V.

It's important for us
to determine

nathan's whereabouts
that night of the 15th

so we could either
rule him in or rule him out.

Where were you on the 15th?

I was at home...
connecticut, my mom's house.

Can anybody else vouch
for you besides your mom?

Yeah, my brother.

Your brother?

Yeah, my brother.

Okay.

based on the proximity

of the state of connecticut
to rockland here,

it is plausible that
he could have driven here

and shot michelle and then drove
back home to connecticut.

With michelle's killer
still at large,

her family appeal to their
local community for help.

We wanted answers.
The family wanted answers.

What happened, why,
and who did this?

Like, only an evil person

would do such a thing
to such a good person.

It was a matter of urgency.

Like, that person
needed to be caught.

Detective romano
finally gets confirmation

on nathan walker's alibi.

And on the 15th?

Alright.

When following up
with nathan's alibi,

we did speak to his mom

and verified
that he was in connecticut

during the night of the murder.

With nathan and ken's
alibis checking out,

investigators look into
who michelle spoke to

on the day she was murdered.

take a look at this.

From reviewing the phone records
of the 15th of September,

we did determine
that nathan did call once,

but another interesting thing
was found,

that there was another number

that called three times
to michelle.

The number belongs to a man

michelle met on vacation
two months ago.

Is this darren jenkins?

After learning this information,
it could be a possibility

that darren may be involved
in this in some way.

Five days after she
was found by her sister, angie,

michelle despinasse
is laid to rest

at st. Joseph's church
in spring valley.

There were so many people.

I remember my sister
made yellow ribbons.

Yellow was her favorite color.

And so we wore those ribbons
to honor her.

She was special to me,
but I didn't know

she was special
to all of these other people.

Attending michelle's
funeral is detective romano.

We commonly do attend
the funeral of someone

that's killed
for a number of reasons.

My experience is that,

although it may be
hard to believe,

but killers do attend

the funeral or the wake services
of the victim.

I did see a number of people
I recognized...

obviously, michelle's family,
some of her friends.

But also
at the service are ken rogers,

nathan walker,

and detectives'
new person of interest,

darren jenkins.

After the funeral,

I did speak with darren jenkins

at the police station.

so, what happened?

Um, I met her at a cruise
in the bahamas,

and we started going out.

After meeting michelle
on vacation in July,

a month after she broke up
with ken,

darren reveals they went
on a couple of dates,

but things never got off
the ground between them.

Darren told us that
michelle had broken up with him,

mainly because
that she wasn't ready

to be in another relationship

after just breaking off
a long-term relationship.

So, as far as she was concerned,

it was over?

We decided to give each other
some space.

but you called her three times
last Wednesday.

Not exactly giving her space.

Yeah. I just wanted
to see her again.

And he was hoping that,
as time would pass,

that they could begin
their relationship again.

He wanted more,
and she didn't want more.

That's what I think it was.

Did you see her that night?

No. No.
I was in d.C.

He said he traveled
to washington, d.C.,

and met up with some friends.

It places him about five hours
away in a different state.

These friends... if I call them,

are they gonna
back up your story?

Yeah, yeah.

okay. Sit tight.

hi. This is detective frank
romano from clarkstown p.D.

Do you know a darren jenkins?

He says he was with you.

On the 15th?

No. That will be all.

Thank you for your time.

Your alibi checks out.

Darren was in
the maryland/d.C. Area

on the night of the murders.

It seemed unreal.

I mean, she was about
the most alive person

that I've ever seen.

I mean, she was just
a bundle of joy.

It just... it didn't seem real.

Do you know of a nathan walker?

No.

And I was thinking,
"who would kill her?"

and I'm like...
I'm just drawing a blank.

how about ken rogers?

yeah, I've seen him.

Darren tells police

about his first date
with michelle

just seven weeks
before her murder.

Well, I drove down
to new york to see her.

And we were there talking
for, like, hours,

and then it got to be,
like, 10:00 o'clock,

and I looked up.

There's a guy at your window.

Angie!

What?

What?

- Yo
- gosh, ken.

Who's that guy?

It's not your business.

Michelle, I love you, alright?

Yeah, you... I want you back.

This guy is there,
and he pissed.

He see me.

It's just not a good situation.

They came back in, and I said,

"what was that?
That's pretty weird."

she explained that she had dated
ken for five years,

he was not taking
the breakup well,

that he would be outside
her house in the morning.

When she'd get up
to go out to work,

she'd come out,
and he'd be standing out there.

So I was like, "you know, man,
you need to take care of that.

That is bizarre."

he was very persistent
on trying to get michelle back,

and she did not want
to be back with him.

These actions by ken tell us

that he was very jealous
and possessive

and he was angry

that she may have been
seeing other people.

Based on ken's behavior,

it now seems that the evidence
is leading towards ken.

But ken has a rock-solid alibi.

While detectives strategize
their next move,

they receive a package
from the fbi.

it's the microcassette found

in the despinasse family's
answering machine.

But when I actually
took the tape

and put it in a tape player
to hear it,

I was expecting to hear typical
answering-machine messages.

I was totally unprepared to hear

what I was
about to hear on that tape.

it was obvious to me that I was
hearing michelle being killed.

Detective romano is
listening to the answering-machine tape

seized from the home
of michelle despinasse

the night she was murdered.

It was obvious to me that it
wasn't a recorded phone message.

It was clearly something
of much greater importance.

Murphy!

listen to this.

The recording is a voice memo,

which is activated
by pressing a button

on the answering machine.

I had to play it again
just to make sure it was real.

You hear her saying,
"stop. Stop, ken."

and then you hear her
struggling and scream.

Soon after michelle's scream,

the tape suddenly stops.

It was difficult
to listen to the tape,

to hear her desperation.

You wonder where humanity is,
what happens.

How could somebody do this?

It was obvious
that she was naming ken

and naming him and kind of
telling us, in a weird way,

that this is
who her murderer is.

Police are confident

that darren jenkins
and nathan walker

had nothing to do
with michelle's murder.

Detectives bring ex-boyfriend
ken rogers in

for a second interview.

we'd like you to take a listen
to this recording.

why is she saying, "stop, ken"?

I don't know, man.

It had an effect on him,
and he was emotional.

His physical demeanor
and his body language

was telling me
that he was responsible.

I told you I was at
the video store that night.

I was at the store!

he then insisted that he
had nothing to do with it.

I don't want
to talk anymore, man, okay?

I don't want to talk.

And he got up,
and he said he wanted to leave.

And he did.

Despite michelle
naming ken in the recording,

his alibi places him
nowhere near her house

at the time of the murder.

Investigators subpoena
his phone records

and bring in video-store owner
miguel to scrutinize his story.

Well, I wasn't
totally honest with you.

I was scared.

Okay.

He told us that he was in fear

because a family member
of ken's had showed up

and basically told him,

"when the police talk to you,
ken was here all night."

Miguel is still shaken
by the incident,

but decides he must come clean.

So what happened?

Ken was in the store
when I got there,

but he left
at about 8:20.

For how long?

He came back around 10:00.

for cooperating with police,
miguel is not charged

for withholding
crucial information.

Ken was actually gone
from the store

for about an hour and a half.

It's enough time
for ken to drive 26 miles

to michelle's home
and back again.

we are very confident
at that point

that ken was the one
that shot and killed michelle.

But the one thing we don't have
is a gun in his hand,

and that's what
we're looking for.

When ken's
cellphone records come in,

they show several calls
to a man named reuben johns

on the day of michelle's murder.

We went to the bronx
to locate reuben johns,

and he told us that ken
was looking for a gun

and that he sold him
a gun that day.

this places a 9-millimeter
handgun in ken's possession

on the day of the murder.

So it's huge
because we had recovered

the 9-millimeter shell casing

as well as a 9-millimeter round
in michelle's house.

Kenneth rogers!

Frank, go around back!

Move!
Back, back, back, back!

Three months
after michelle was gunned down,

ken rogers is arrested
at his home in the bronx.

Kenneth rogers,
you're under arrest

for the murder
of michelle despinasse.

You have the right
to remain silent.

It was a good feeling
to finally get him

before he could hit
the ground and run.

Ken's apartment was searched
for the handgun,

and none was located.

In may 2000,
prosecutor robert magrino

outlines what happened after
ken rogers left the video store.

The evidence indicated
that ken arrived at the house,

was lurking outside...

hello. Barbara?

It's me. He's outside.

Open the door!

Michelle, open the door!

michelle? Michelle!

michelle, where is he?
Ken, there is no one here.

Michelle, where's
your boyfriend?

Ken, there's no boyfriend.

Michelle, where's
your boyfriend?

Ken!
Yo!

Michelle, where is he?
Ken, there is no one here!

Where is he?

Michelle, don't be lying to me!

Ken, I'm telling you...
Where is he?!

Ken was probably
looking around for other people,

whether it was her family
or perhaps another man.

There's nothing.
Michelle!

There is no one...

where are you at, man?!

Where is he, michelle?

Don't you lie, michelle!

As ken turned
his jealous rage on her,

michelle made the last decision
of her life...

to record the rest
of the encounter.

Michelle was telling him
to stop,

and at some point,
she went to the ground.

Michelle was lying on the floor,

but at that point he had
probably gone too far.

She had seen the gun.

It had never gotten
to this point before.

the tape runs out...

...And then michelle is shot,

while she's lying on the floor,

at point-blank range.

Ken then raced back
to the video store in the bronx.

The tape was a very compelling
piece of evidence.

It's michelle, in essence,
identifying ken as her killer.

For her to beg
for her life like that...

it's just...

only an evil person
would do such a thing.

judge nelson
sentenced ken rogers

to 25 years to life

for the murder
of michelle despinasse.

I'd like michelle
to be remembered

as just the kind,
sweet person that she was,

just fun-loving, you know,
adventurous and happy.

I miss her every day.

there's a part of me
that I'll never get back.

and you feel like
nobody understands you

like your sister does.

And that's the relationship
michelle and I will always have.